


The Exorcist

by keykiyoshi7443



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist, Danny Phantom
Genre: Adopted Fic, Crossover, Danny is a half demon, I don't own the idea, Yukio is a jerk, it's kinda shitty btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-07-23 21:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 46
Words: 96,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7480731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keykiyoshi7443/pseuds/keykiyoshi7443
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adopted from Dr.ForgottenFables who as given up writing. Formerly known as "Green Exorcist"</p><p>After Jack and Maddie lose a bet to the Demon King of Time, their children are placed in his care and sent to True Cross Academy to begin their training to become exorcists. Mephisto just found a new play thing.</p><p>*Last chapter has been edited yo*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Green Exorcist](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/213258) by Dr. ForgottenFables. 



> Like it says in the chapter this is adopted, so credit goes to the original author and neither of us own anything. I received permission to continue/finish this fic, but the original author had already gotten a lot of the fic done. I'm re-posting because when I read adopted stories, I tend to prefer only reading off one site and not having to search for the original, you know?
> 
> the original author quite literally said 'go ahead and take the story. I quite writing' so I'm going to take that as a go ahead for this. I don't own the original 40 something chapters (and I kinda feel guilty about re-posting this) so all credit goes to Dr. ForgottenFables on fanfiction.net. The link will be somewhere so go check out the original if you want. I'm just putting everything in one place for the ease of reading. 
> 
> I also corrected some grammar, spelling, and wording mistakes. Please enjoy and I hope that I can do this fanfiction justice when the time comes. I don't own the idea for this fic either. The change of title was done just because. Also I'll fix the tags as I go, because I have to re-read the story.

'They had bet our lives.' The phrase kept repeating itself in Danny's mind as he and his sister, Jazz, sat in the back of the hot pink limo across from the demon who was now their legal guardian.  
  
The day seemed so unreal, the small army of men dressed as clergymen showing up at FentonWorks, arresting the kids' parents and burning their home to the ground.   
  
Jack and Maddie Fenton had performed a crime against god, and for that they would be imprisoned by the True Cross Order until their sentencing. This left Danny and Jazz alone in the world with nothing to their names. Which is why they now sat across from a demon, off to a new life that neither one of them wanted.   
  
"Oh come now, don't give me that look," Mephisto Pheles said with his cunning grin that showed his above average sized canine teeth. The demon was dressed in a white suit with a matching cape and top hat. With his dark blue hair and pointy beard, as well as his pointed ears, he was so obviously a demon that it was almost laughable.   
  
"Why shouldn't we hate you? You've come in out of nowhere and told us that our parents bet our lives against you and lost," Jazz said angrily. Jazz was a fairly average seventeen year old girl with bright orange hair and blue eyes which she was using to glare at the demon.   
  
"Oh don't be so dramatic, it isn't as if they bet your souls. I'm simply going to be your new legal guardian! So once you turn eighteen you can be free of me if that is your wish. But until then, you will attend my academy and train to become exorcists. That isn't so bad is it?" Mephisto said, giving a playful shrug. "And now that you no longer have to worry about your parents finding out about your brother's 'condition', aren't you much better off than you were before. He doesn't even have to hide himself if he doesn't want to. There are many half demons in the True Cross Order. Though I have to admit he is the first half spirit I have ever seen."   
  
Danny glared at the man, his normal crystal blue human eyes momentarily flashing a very inhuman green from behind his black bangs. Mephisto was ecstatic as the sight of the bright green eyes. "Your parents wanted to know how to get into Sheol, the realm of the spirits, and I told them and I warned them of the consequence. All I asked for in return was that if they were ever caught, then their children would be mine to do with as I please until they become adults. I was extremely fair with them. It isn't my fault that they choose the path they did."   
  
"No you just gave them the gun and told them to go nuts. You aren't the murderer," Danny hissed angrily. But he had to admit that both he and his sister were probably better off without their parents. Parents who would risk their children for the sake of their stupid ghost hunts.   
  
The limo passed through a tunnel and when they came out the other side the view had completely changed. They were now surrounded by large school building that all looked really high end and fancy. "Welcome children to True Cross Academy, Japan!" Mephisto said in a very grandiose manner, with his arms spread wide. "The best academy in the world, here is where you will take your normal classes while your exorcist training will take place... somewhere else." Jazz didn't want to admit it, but that did sound good to her.   
  
The limo stopped out in front of an old abandoned looking dorm. "You are going to be staying here," Mephisto said, handing them each a key and giving a twisted smile. "You will find all the things you need in your rooms. So don't worry. Tata now, and have a good time," He said, pushing them out of his limo which drove away.   
  
Mephisto could not believe his luck. When he had explained how to open a portal to the 'Ghost Zone' to those Fentons, he had only expected to be entertained as they ruined their own lives and lost their children. But not only did he get that, but he also got their son, Danny Phantom. A half demon of a caliber rarely seen.   
  
Not only that, but the boy had defeated Mephisto's brother, Mammon, also known as Pariah Dark, another one of the eight Demon Kings, the King of Spirit. And even if Pariah was not the strongest of the eight Demon Kings, he was still one of the top ten strongest demons in existence.   
  
Yes, things were turning out great for the King of Time. He could not wait to see how these events would drive forward into the future. "This world is a perfect playground. And oh how I love to play."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll upload a chapter daily until I get to writing my ending. Credit to original author, all I did was fix spelling. There was a surprising amount of mistakes.

Rin gave a rather large yawn that exposed his slightly longer than normal canines, as he entered the dorm after the end of the normal school day. He still had a bit of time before the exorcist cram school classes started to go and put away his normal school supplies and grab the scriptures that he would need for the cram school classes. So he wasn't exactly in any hurry.   
  
Rin Okumura looked fairly normal as he walked around in his school uniform for True Cross Academy with his unkempt black hair and blue eyes, but the truth was he was about as far away from normal as someone could get. The boy was the son of Satan, and had inherited his father's demonic powers; the azure blue flames that were feared by most of the world of exorcists. And if you pulled down his pants you would find a demon's tail swinging freely between the boy's legs.   
  
This was something that had to remain a secret at all costs. If anyone should find out that Rin was related to Satan, then the boy would more than likely be killed.   
  
As he entered the run down old building he sniffed the air. "Oh, something smells good. I wonder if Ukobach made me a snack," Rin said, running towards the kitchen, but once there he came to a stop.   
  
"This is very good, thank you, Ukobach," A girl said. She looked around two or so years older than Rin himself with bright orange hair said to the kitchen demon. Ukobach blushed and began to scratch his head as the girl eat one of his cookies.   
  
Ukobach was rather small when he didn't chose to take on his larger Minotaur like form, being just over one foot tall. Like many fire type demons, he was covered in bright red fur, had small horns growing from his head, and a tail that looked a bit like a pitch fork.   
  
"Yeah, they're really good," A boy said from beside the girl. He seemed to be around the same age as Rin himself if a little shorter. He had messing black hair and blue eyes like Rin himself, though the boy's bangs were a bit longer, just stopping short of covering his eyes. The boy stopped and turned to look at Rin. "Oh, hi. I didn't know anyone else lived here," The boy said.   
  
"It's cool, it's really just me and my brother usually," Rin said confused and glad that he still had his tail in his pants. "Are you two new here? I don't remember seeing either of you before."   
  
"Yeah we just arrived a few hours ago," The girl said with a gentle smile. Rin was a bit taken aback by it. The girl seemed to have a mature beauty about her, different from any of the girls from the cram school. Shiemi Moriyama, the girl Rin had a crush on had more of a childish and cute girl next door charm. "I'm Jazz, and this is my brother Danny." The girl introduced them.   
  
"I'm Rin Okumura," Rin said, bowing a bit. Trying his best to make a good first impression, knowing full well that he usually messed up on that front. "It's nice to meet you," Then Rin's eyes found the clock in the corner of the room and he paled. "What! 5:12! I thought I had more time than that!" He shouted and bolted from the room to quickly get his things. He only had 18 minutes before class started.   
  
"So he's also staying here? Wonder if he is training to be an exorcist," Jazz said, turning back to the cookies.   
  
"Probably," Danny said, leaning aback. He had only ate two of the small treats but he was already too full to continue. Spirit type demons didn't need to eat physical food, taking energy from their obsession and the emotions of others instead. Danny usually ate only because he liked to feel and taste rather than any need. It also made him feel more human. "But that guy is a demon of some kind, though I can't tell what. He isn't a ghost, that’s for sure." Danny said, not really that concerned. It isn't like Mephisto would just let a demon march onto his campus and sign up for classes without him knowing about it.   
  
"Well, we should probably be getting ready for our first class now. Thanks again for the food Ukobach." Jazz said, getting up with Danny to move towards their rooms in the opposite direction as Rin.   
  
"I made it!" Rin sighed with relief as he slouched down in his seat next to Shiemi.   
  
"Good morning, Rin," Shiemi greeted the boy. Shiemi was easily the cutest girl in class, probably even in the whole school, if you asked Rin. She had shoulder length blond hair and big round... cheeks. She always wore a pink kimono that gave her a very childish appearance. She was generally upbeat if a little shy and Rin had developed a crush on her on day one of when they met.   
  
"Hey Shiemi," Rin said with the biggest grin he could manage. They did a bit of small talk about homework and how Shiemi's family's medicine store was going before the teacher came in.   
  
Yukio Okumura was Rin's younger twin brother, but unlike Rin how had only just found out about the world that the exorcists lived in, his brother had known about it since they were both children. So Yukio had trained for a long time already and was considered a protege. He was also the teacher of the cram school. Rin didn't exactly like being compared to his brother who was smarter than him and better at school, but he was proud.   
  
Yukio's black hair was a bit straighter than Rin's and his eyes didn't seem as blue from behind his glasses. And with the moles on his face, the two really didn't even look much alike, let alone how they acted. Not to mention that Yukio didn't possess Satan's flames, being just like any normal human.   
  
"Alright class, we will continue off from where we left off the yesterday," Yukio said, opening up his book and going to the board. Rin could already feel his concentration slipping. Man, he wasn't very good at school work.   
  
"Alright kiddos, are you two ready for your first day of exorcist training!?" Mephisto asked, grinning down at his two newest charges as they stood outside of the classroom.   
  
"Are you giving us a choice?" Jazz asked with a raised eyebrow.   
  
"Absolutely not," Mephisto replied cheerfully, before taking off his top hat. "Though I nearly forgot, if you want to be an exorcist without revealing your powers, then you are going to need a weapon." Mephisto said, putting his entire arm into his hat. "Eins... Zwei... Drei!" The demon shouted before pulling his arm out of his hat with a short spear in his hand.   
  
It was just over four feet long with a single sided blade for a spearhead. It was a solid steel grey with just a few runes around the edge of the blade. "Okay... do you do children's party?" Danny asked as the demon handed him the spear.   
  
"Whenever I feel in the mood, yes," Mephisto admitted with a shrug. "Magic swords are so overdone here, even knight has one. So I thought that a spear might be a good change of pace. Now remember to keep your magical translation badges with you and have to a good time," Mephisto said, turning towards the classroom door. "And now to introduce you to your classmates!"


	3. Chapter 3

Rin gave a short lawn as his brother continued to teach the class. Classroom learning had never been Rin's specialty. He had a short attention span and was pretty quick to get into fights. So he had dropped out of middle school before everything had happened.   
  
Most people in his shoes would blame it on their demon blood, but Rin just said that school was boring and not for him and that all the people he beat up really did desire it. Not that either would have helped him make friends at a normal school. But in the cram school, having a personality problem seemed to be the norm, so Rin found himself enjoy his time spent with his classmate. At least while class wasn't going on.   
  
But Rin was jogged out of his daze when the sliding door to the classroom was pulled open with a large bang and Mephisto entered, wearing his usual smug grin. "Hola, class!" He said with a cheerful smile and an over the top bow.   
  
"Sir Pheles, what are you doing here?" Yukio asked the demon headmaster, rather surprised to see him entering the classroom.   
  
"Oh I just wished to be the one to introduce you to your newest classmates!" Mephisto said, gesturing to the door with one arm spread wide. Then Jazz and Danny entered the room. Rin's barely noticed the short spear that was at Danny's side.   
  
"Its those two," Rin said, more to himself than anyone else.   
  
"You know them Rin?" Shiemi asked, tilting her head to look over at her friend.   
  
"Yeah, well sort of," Rin said, scratching his head. "They moved into mine and Yukio's dorm today. I don't really know anything about them."   
  
"Let me introduce Jazz and Danny Fenton. Because of some recent events these two poor children have lost their family and have been placed in my care. So please try to play nice with them," Mephisto said. "So, aren't you two going to introduce yourselves."   
  
"Why? You already humiliated us?" Danny said, glaring at the Demon King. "I'm Danny, and I don't need you to hold my hand. I'm no stranger to this world. My parents might as well be gone from the day I was born," Danny said, shoving his hands into his pockets.   
  
"Danny..." Jazz sighed before looking to the class. "I'm Jasmine Fenton, but I prefer to go by Jazz. I'm studying to be a psychologist, so if you have any problems, I'm all ears," Jazz said, bowing a little and giving an honest smile.   
  
"Isn't she a little old to be starting exorcist training?" Bon said with the usual serious scowl on his face. "And why the hell are you letting them enter our class in the middle of the year? Aren't we going to be having the Exwire exams soon?"   
  
"Exwire exams?" Rin said to himself, scratching his head. He hadn't ever heard of it, but that went for over half the things that were brought up in class. Probably because he was always sleeping.   
  
Bon's outbreak wasn't exactly unexpected. Though he was a nice guy once you got to know him, he didn't handle new people very well. He did come across as way too serious and his punk look didn't exactly earn him many points when it came to making first impressions... well, except with Rin.   
  
Bon had naturally dark brown hair but he dyed it a strip of blond down the center. He had a rough appearance than magnified his eternal scowl and his several ear piercings completed the punk look.   
  
"Hey, take it easy, Bon. We could always use some more ladies around here. And she is quite the looker," Renzo said trying to both calm down his friend and make a pass at the new girl. Unfortunately for him, Jazz just rolled her eyes.   
  
"Shima, you're supposed to be a monk, remember?" Konekomaru said, giving the boy a worried look.   
  
Renzo and Konekomaru were both childhood friends of Bon's and had come to the school with him. Renzo was a bit of a flirt with bright pink hair and a carefree look about him. Where Konekomaru was rather small and bold with large glasses. Looking like your stereotypical monk. But the three of them were close friends, and Rin found himself liking the group of misfits a lot, even after the bad first impressions with Bon.   
  
"It is quite alright, and a fair question," Mephisto said, spinning an umbrella around one finger as he stare at the boy. Mephisto weighed his options really quick before responding. "And the answer is simple; because they are better than you." Bon's eyes shot open and he gritted his teeth. Some of the other students frowned as well. Danny and Jazz both threw the headmaster a glare. "Between the two of them they had already successfully handled hundreds of demons. While most of you have yet to defeat a single one. I believe that speaks for itself." The headmaster then clapped his hands together. "Well, have fun now," He said, before leaving the room.   
  
"I hate that guy," Danny said angrily, before going to sit down at one of the empty tables that could sit two people.   
  
Jazz walked forward too. "Hey, would you like to sit with me?" Renzo asked.   
  
It was Jazz's turn to weigh her options. First, Danny usually liked to keep to himself a bit, so giving him some room right now was probably for the best since he hadn't had any time to himself since finding out that their parents had been arrested. Second, it was the only open seat at the front of the classroom, and Jazz might not want to be a exorcist, but she was still more than willing to learn about them. And finally, she needed to be more open with the people in the class if she wanted to undo what Mephisto had just done.   
  
"Alright, thank you," Jazz said, sitting down next to the pink hard boy and getting out her books.   
  
Danny leaned back on the bench at his table. He wasn't too worried, as long as this guy didn't end up like Dash, from his old school or a demon trying to steal her body for some kind of blood ritual, then Danny didn't care who flirted with his sister. It was her life, and he could already tell that there was only two people who were even part demon in the room; himself, and Rin.   
  
But he didn't like the way that the boy with a blond skunk strip was glaring at his sister. If he did try anything against her, Danny would retaliate.   
  
"Alright class, settle down. We'll continue with our lesson," Yukio said turning back to the board again. "As I was saying before there are eight main categories of demons; rot, insect, water, earth, fire, spirit, time, and light," He said writing the words up on the board.   
  
"Wait, so light is a type of demon?" Rin asked confused.   
  
"Oh, how nice of you to offer something," Yukio joked, earning himself a scowl from his older brother. "Light demons are usually fallen angels and other deities, beings of order who had decided to strike out against mankind for one reason or another. They are perhaps the hardest type of demon to characterize, making it next to impossible to identify their fatal verses," Yukio said. "But back to the matter of categories. Each member of an individual category is assigned a level between lesser demon and greater demon based on their relative strength within their category, with the strongest in each category holding the title of 'King' of that category."   
  
"Though each individual's strengths are different it is generally true that some categories are stronger than other. Going from weakest to strongest, you would have insects being the weakest, followed by rot, then earth, water, fire, spirit, time, and finally light," Yukio said calmly. "Though it is also true that the population at the high end of the power spectrum is lower."   
  
"Today we will work on the characteristics of each one of these groups to give you a better idea of what to expect. We'll start with insects," Yukio said moving over to the part of the board were insect was written. "Insects are the most abundant type of demon, but they are also the weakest. They normally are rather unintelligent and usually target already dead prey or the sickly. They are easily susceptible to holy water and simple aria incantations, making them of little threat as long as you come prepared."   
  
"Next is rot type demons. These are demons that possess dead things, such as ghouls and zombies. Most are still rather unintelligent, but high rank ones are fairly cunning. Strong demon's of this category can produce a miasma that weakens anyone who breathes it in, slowly killing them," Yukio said, writing up on the board again. "But there are cures for all of their poisons and these demons are also susceptible to holy water and though not all aria incantations can be used on them, it is still fairly easy to identify their fatal verse. Again, a simple task for anyone who is properly prepared."   
  
"Earth type demons are usually characterized by their thick skin or scales. They can easily take heavy hits, so bullets are useless against stronger ones. And they hit hard, really hard, so if you are facing one, don't let it get close," Yukio said writing the strength on the board. "They are still susceptible to holy water, but the stronger once might not be destroyed by it, and you would have to identify their fatal verse before you face it if you hope to defeat it that way. So swords and other bladed weapons are your best bet against these demons. Though poisons have also been known to have a strong effect."   
  
"Water type demons are usually very docile and can live for a long time. They usually won't come near land unless they have to, but they have still been known to attack and they are hard to deal with when they do, being much more slippery that the other demons we had talked about so far. Most of these empathy and are able to sense human emotions, or even read minds. Some of the more powerful water type demons can summon large amounts of water or even ice," Yukio said. "Most of these demons are immune to holy water and we have yet to identify most of their fatal verses, and since they rarely come out of the water, guns and swords are not much use. But poisons are extremely effective against these demons."   
  
"Fire type demons are just the opposite, they are very aggressive, but they usually don't live too long because of it. Fire demons have thick skins and are usually able to breath fire. More powerful fire demon's entire body are constantly on fire. But this eventually burns them out, as they need fuel to survive in our world. Which is why they rarely enter this world," Yukio explained. "Holy water won't work on fire demons if the fire is too hot, since the water will not be able to reach their bodies, and trying to approach a strong one with a sword is suicide. But it is usually simple enough to exhaust them of fuel so that their fire dies out. This can be done with either specialized bullets or the right passages read from the holy scripts."   
  
"Then there are spirit type demons. They are characterized by their ability to move through solid objects and become invisible. They are also known for being able to sense other demons, especially each other, do to their territorial nature," Yukio said before writing two words up on the board; ghost, incarnation. "Spirit types can be divided into two different categories; ghosts, who are born from demons that take on the appearance and thoughts of someone who has died, and seek out to accomplish that person's dying wish. These wishes are what we call the ghost's obsession. Ghosts have no fatal verse, though some passages can weaken or distract them. Holy water also have very little effect on ghosts. And since they can turn themselves invisible, it is very difficult to pin one down. Most attacks will pass straight through these demons without harming them in the slightest, but there are certain metals and herbs that can affect them. Though even if the metal can hit them, strong ghosts are resilient and the damage will be minimal."   
  
"On the other hand, incarnations are born from the fears or dreams of thousands of people and their power is relative to how focused those thoughts are. Unlike ghosts, incarnations may have fatal verses, but stronger ones become immune to them. The most powerful ghosts and incarnations don't have any weaknesses beyond being hit by special types of metal, making them one of the most dangerous groups. But like water demons, most don't actually wish to fight and like fire demons those that do want to fight don't usually last very long as their obsessions quickly cause them to self-destruct," Yukio said, finishing the part about spirits.   
  
"Almost nothing is known about time demons. But each does hold some level of foresight into the future, making them extremely hard to surprise. Most can also cast many different types of magic, so they are very unpredictable," Yukio said. "A weaker one will still be affected by all normal means of attack, but with the powerful ones it is hard to say what will and what won't work. Best to avoid if you can."   
  
"Finally light type demons. As we established earlier, they are fallen deities, so many of them are very old and powerful. There is no specific power or nature that defines them, but they are all immune to holy water and most do not have a fatal verse. It is hard to say what will work. So only the strongest of Exorcists are assigned to deal with them," Yukio said.   
  
"These are the eight main groups of demons, but their are some overlaps in them that break the mold, so it isn't the perfect model, but it should give you a good idea to start on," Yukio finished his lecture and turned to them.   
  
This is when he finally noticed that his brother had dozed off in the front row, and that Danny had joined him in the back of the room.   
  
Yukio glared at the boy in the back. Mephisto had not told him anything about these two new students. He couldn't help but worry that they were somehow spies.   
  
Yukio would have to corner the headmaster if he wanted to get some answers. He had to... he had to protect his brother.


	4. Chapter 4

Danny was sleeping pretty soundly until someone smashed their hand down on his table and shook him awake. "Wake up stupid!" Someone shouted at him. Danny stopped himself just short of blasting the guy in the chest out of surprise when he realized that the semi-mohawk was blond and not on fire. One of his new classmates was glaring down at him. "Honestly you're as bad as Okumura! How the hell are you supposed to be special!?"   
  
"Dude, cut me some slack, I just came over from America today, the jet lag is murder," Danny said as he stretched out his joints. Sleeping in the uncomfortable classroom chairs was not the best, but it sure did beat actually paying attention in class.   
  
The honest truth was that Danny wouldn't have been able to stay awake anyways. Demons are beings that dedicated their lives to the simpler pleasures, and a nice afternoon nap was one of them. Even a half demon like Danny couldn't help but to indulge himself whenever he was in a boring class.   
  
"Besides, I've never been one for classroom learning. I do much better just learning on the job," Danny said with a shrug.   
  
"Wow, that is exactly what Okumura said too," A pink haired boy said from behind the blond guy.   
  
"You could at least make a small attempt to stay awake in class," Jazz said, giving her brother a disapproved look.   
  
"What's the point? I don't want to be an exorcist anyways. So why put in the effort," Danny said with a shrug.   
  
"What did you say!?" The blond shouted angrily. His two friends came forward to hold him back. "If you aren't going to take this seriously they get the hell out and stop wasting our time!"   
  
"Hey, calm down Bon. It's no big deal that he hasn't decided to become an exorcist yet. I mean, Shiemi is still on the fence about the whole thing too," Rin said, walking up to the blond with a big smile on his face.   
  
"Stay out of this Okumura! I'm not going to let this guy blow off something that is so important! Not when he thinks he's so much better than us!" 'Bon' said angrily towards his rival.   
  
"I don't think I'm better than anyone, I just don't want to be here. That's all," Danny said shrugging. "I don't get what the big deal is."   
  
"Why you..." Bon growled.   
  
"Bon, please, we need to get to our next class," The short kid with the glasses said pulling his much bigger friend away with the help of the pink haired boy.   
  
"Did I do something wrong?" Danny asked no one in particular. It was only him, Jazz and Rin left in the room at this point.   
  
"Nah, Bon just takes everything really seriously. Don't worry, he's really a nice guy once you get used to him. Just don't mention how his face looks. He's a bit insecure about it the scowling thing. I think it really did end up sticking like that," Rin said with a toothy grin. "So Mephisto is your guardian too, huh? Yukio and I became his charges just after our dad died. So I guess that means I'm your older brother now," Rin said proudly sticking out his chest.   
  
"Um, isn't Jazz older than you?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.   
  
"Doesn't matter, I was here first, I'm the big brother. So if anyone give the two of you trouble just come to me," Rin laughed.   
  
"Hmm... an older brother complex? Or many it’s an alpha demon kind of deal," Jazz pondered out loud.   
  
Rin's smile slowly dropped as the words registered. "Wha.. what are you talking about? I'm not a demon," He tried laughing, but sweat started to build up on his brow. "Hey, crazy talk like that isn't funny."   
  
"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize it was supposed to be a secret. Mephisto said that half demons were not uncommon in the True Cross Order. So I just assumed you were open about it. I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again," Jazz apologized, after seeing the negative reaction.   
  
Rin looked a bit shocked that apology. "So... you're not going to tell everyone," Rin said testing the water. "Not that I am or anything," He quickly added.   
  
"No, we can understand why you might want to keep that a secret," Danny said quietly. His eyes began to glow bright green. "I won't tell if you don't."   
  
Rin's grin split his face again. "Yes! Finally, the little brother I always wanted rather than the four eyes mole face!" He shouted before pulling Danny into a headlock that would have quickly choked the boy if he had needed oxygen to survive. But then Rin remembered that they had somewhere they need to be. "Oh shoot, we're supposed to be getting over to the shooting range for today's practical learns! Come on, I'll show you the way!" He said but he was already dragging the other two behind him. He was glad to finally have people who knew even a little of the truth about him. Especially since it meant he could still walk around the dorm with his tail out.   


 

* * *

 

 

"Sir Pheles, there is something I want to ask you," Yukio said to the headmaster as he entered his office after his class was over.   
  
"Let me guess, you want to know about those two new children who I have placed in your class are," Mephisto said as he leaned back in his very luxurious chair. The demon was taking pleasure in how things were preceding. "Well I suppose I can tell you. Under the assumption that you do not let this information get out."   
  
"You have my word," Yukio said stiffly.   
  
Mephisto's grin threatened to split his face. "The two of them have been taken into my care because their parents have been arrested on the grounds of heresy by the Vatican. I expect that they will either carry a life sentence or be given a death penalty. And so I took the two of them in from out of the goodness of my heart."   
  
"I didn't know you do charity," Yukio said suspiciously.   
  
"Oh you wound me. I do so all the time. Why I even took in you and your brother, at great risk to my own safety might I add," Mephisto said dramatically. "But you are right. They are very valuable to me. Just like your brother is." A bing sounded from a kitchen timer and Mephisto pulled out a instant ramen cup and began to slurp up his noodles, not caring as Yukio started to show signs of being impatient. It was so fun for the demon to watch the boy squirming as he tried to remain professional.   
  
"The younger brother, Danny, he became a half demon nearly a year ago, and a powerful one at that," Mephisto finally said, earning a strong reaction out of Yukio. "That's right, he is a demon who was raised as a normal human child, just like your brother. Though he is no son of Satan, he was still able to fight off Pariah Dark, the King of Spirit. So he is very interesting."   
  
"I thought Pariah Dark was sealed away a thousand years ago when he tried to overthrow Lucifer for control over the Light demons," Yukio said with a bit of shock.   
  
"He was, but he was freed. The boy redid the seal. Pariah had kept the seal around in hopes that he could use it on our brother. But that proved to be his undoing," Mephisto said with a laugh. "Pariah always was too full of himself for his own good. And now the boy and his sister are in my care. Though I am running into a little problem. Danny has plenty of control and experience, but he lacks motivation, rather odd for a demon. But your own brother has plenty of desire, but lacks control. I'm hoping that they will balance each other out."   
  
"I thought we were trying to discourage my brother from using his flames," Yukio said, obviously disapproving.   
  
"Oh please, if the boy ever wants to stand up against Satan, they he will need that power. And for him to be wielding it, instead of it wielding him," Mephisto said as he looked down into his instant ramen cup before downing the broth.   
  
"... What kind of demon is he?" Yukio asked bluntly.   
  
Mephisto stopped and blinked at the boy teacher. "What are you saying? Are you really planning on being prepared to kill the boy at a moment's notice? Even with how much he is like your own brother?" Mephisto said, trying to acted shocked. "You really are a cold hearted exorcist through and through. To think that Father Fujimoto ended up raising a boy as ruthless as you. Perhaps your brother wasn't the one to inherent Satan's blood."   
  
"Don't mess with me!" Yukio snapped, losing himself for a moment at the mention of his adoptive father.   
  
Mephisto looked at the boy with disappointment written on his face. "Danny is a half ghost," Mephisto said shortly. Yukio's eyes widened.   
  
"That isn't possible. There is no such thing as a spirit type half demon," Yukio said quickly. Almost all half demons were children of Earth or Water types, or a blend of the two, Insect, Fire, Time and Light weren't unheard of, but Spirit and Rot just didn't happen. They weren't even supposed to be possible.   
  
"I did not find out that they existed myself until just a few days ago, but apparently there are three of them in this world," Mephisto said, crossing his legs. "Let me warn you my young protege, the boy maybe a carefree child, but if you do threaten him, you will lose. You're no match for him."   
  
"Now who's underestimating who?" Yukio said, turning to leave the room. He had to make plans to deal with this new threat. He couldn't let any emotions get in his way.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG the grammar and spelling is horrible in the original. It looks like they didn't even run it through a basic spell checker.

"Alright class, since your exwire exams are coming up, today we are going to test you to see if any of you have any skill with firearms," The mustached instructor said as the group moved up to the end of the firing range. Rin scratched his head, still not knowing what the exwire exams were. But Danny just didn't care. "Now when it is your turn to go, you will go up to the range and pick on one of the guns which has been preloaded with twelve paint bullets. Then twelve targets will move in and out of the range, and you must try to shot as many of them as you can. Let me demonstrate."   
  
The instructor stepped up to firing booth and picked up one of the guns. Targets quickly moved back and further across the far end of the practice area and the Instructor shot each one of them in the bullseye. The students clapped at the display of skill.   
  
"Thank you, now lets see how all of you can do, shall we?" He said, reloading the gun.   
  
The girls went first, but didn't have much luck. Jazz had managed to hit three of the twelve targets. She had improved over time, but she still wasn't the best shot. The other girls didn't even manage one. Shiemi fell on her butt from the recoil of the gun earning a sad look from the teacher.   
  
Renzo and Konekomaru had managed to hit two and one targets respectively, but how much of it was luck, they wouldn't say. They had just braced themselves and pulled the trigger without aiming, just hoping beyond hope that they would hit something. Renzo tried to argue that spraying and 'praying' was the perfect strategy for an aria, who was supposed to fight using prayers.   
  
The two more mysterious students, the one in the hoodie and the boy with the hand puppet, didn't even respond when told that it was their turns, so they were skipped.   
  
Rin had a much easier time with it than most of the others. He had spent some time in the arcades and his superhuman strength made the recoil from the gun mute. So he managed to get seven of the twelve targets. Still not perfect, but good for a beginner.   
  
Bon was up next. Danny watched the way that he moved and breathed. It was all very textbook method; feet spread, line up sights, exhale, fire. Bon ended up getting nine out of twelve. Two more than Rin. He gave a smug smile to his rival as he moved off, puffing out his chest with pride.   
  
"Good job, Bon," Konekomaru said to his friend as they welcomed him back.   
  
"Man, I thought I had you beat for sure," Rin said crossing his arms. "I'll win next time, you'll see."   
  
"Fat chance stupid, not until you learn how to breath," Bon said.   
  
"Do you honestly think I'm that dumb? Breathing is easy. And what does that have to do with shooting a gun anyways?" Rin said.   
  
"Proving my point, dumbass," Bon said, before looking to Danny. "How about you Mr. Golden Boy. Do you think you can beat my score?"   
  
Danny sighed and walked up to the firing range, he was still gripping his new spear in his right hand so he decided to just pick up the gun in his left. The targets began to move and Danny shot the bullseyes on each one of them, hardly even moving as he took aim and fired one shot after another, his experience in firefights showing through.   
  
Bon was speechless as the others clapped. "Wow Danny, you kick butt!" Rin said in his congratulatory manner.   
  
"I have never seen such a performance from a Trainee before. You simply must become a dragoon," The instructor said, clapping with the others.   
  
Bon grimaced and pushed past Danny grabbing another gun. "I won't lose to someone like you," He said and took and as the targets began to move again. He had found himself another rival.   
  
Yukio walked through the infinite gates and back onto the dormitory holding a order form for the exorcist herb shop in his hand. One with all the types of plants that would be effective on a spirit type demon written down on it.   
  
Yukio started down the list; two orders of Chinese Lantern Pedal which attract spirits, four packs of Sakura Flowers from a tree that bloomed out of season which was known to disorient the spirit demons, and half a pound of the ground up petals of Blue Roses which could act as a tranquilizing agent against ghosts.   
  
Yukio's only problem was the last item on the list. One for which he had yet to specify his order amount for. Blood Blossoms, a flower which produces on oil over its petals that destroyers ghosts in a very slow and painful fashion.   
  
If this had been a normal demon, then Yukio would have already filled this part out and be ordering the injunction bullets to put it in. But things were not that simple. Yukio might not have cared for demons, but he would be quite a hypocrite for putting down a half demon without any thought. And even just having the bullets on hand would weigh on him. But at the same time he couldn't overlook the possibility that this was some kind of trap laid out for Rin in order to take him to Gehenna, the world of the demons.   
  
If anything went wrong, Yukio had no guarantee that non lethal methods would work on this half demon.   
  
He walked passed the kitchen where he could smell the dinner that Rin and Ukobach had cooked up. Cooking had always been Rin's true passion and the only thing he ever really put any effort into. Probably because it was the only thing he ever got complimented for. The amount that he could accomplish if he had just put as much thought into his studies as he did into his dishes was a frightening thing to ponder.   
  
"Oh, something smells good. What are we having to..day..." Yukio started as he moved into the dining area, but his voice fell of as he looked up from the order form to see his brother standing there with a triumphant look on his face as Jazz sat in front of him eating his signature fried rice he had whipped up, Danny sitting close by with a much smaller amount of food. Yukio thought he was going to have a heart attack as he saw his older brother's tail flicking back and forth. "Ahhh!" He shouted, running past them and grabbing Rin's collar and dragging it into the back of the kitchen before anyone could say anything.   
  
"Yukio, what was that for? If you want some you just have to ask, we made plenty. Danny doesn't eat all that much," Rin said, scratching his head at his brother's reaction.   
  
"Rin, what are you doing!? Why are they here!? Why is your tail out!?" Yukio asked question after question, without giving Rin time to answer. His professional appearance disappearing, just like it always did when it was just him and his brother.   
  
"Hey, calm down. They're living here in the dorm with us, and they had already figure out I was part demon. Not sure how though," Rin said, scratching his head.   
  
Yukio inwardly cursed Mephisto, the crafty demon had purposely not told him anything about this. The fact that Danny would notice Rin's power know seemed obvious to Yukio and confirmed that Danny was indeed a Spirit type half demon. Spirit types were able to detect the powers of other demons, especially each other.   
  
"Rin this isn't good, please tell me you didn't tell them about your flames," Yukio said, grabbing his brother's shoulders and looking him in the eyes.   
  
"Of course I didn't. What's wrong with you Yukio, you're acting pretty rude. It isn't like they've done anything wrong," Rin said, knocking his brother's hands off.   
  
"Rin if anyone finds out then you will die. Don't you understand that? I'm trying to protect you," Yukio tried to reason with Rin but the older brother won't listen.   
  
"Yukio I don't need protecting. They're pretty cool, you should give them a chance. Now come on before your meal gets cold, because I'm not making you another one," Rin said, before leaving the kitchen to join the Fentons.   
  
"Rin..." Yukio sighed as he watched his brother go. He looked down at the order form which was crumpled up in his hand. He smoothed it out and next to the blank next to Blood Blossoms he wrote down his order, seven grams. If his brother wouldn't be cautious, then it was up to him to protect Rin. No matter what it took.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny was hardly still awake at the end of Yukio's class. It wasn't that the stuff wasn't interesting. It's just none of it appealed to him.   
  
Saying that you should always research the demon you are planning on exorcising was all well and good, but it wasn't like Danny ever went out of his way to find a demon. All the ghosts came to him. It was the reason his sister wouldn't let him leave the house without a Fenton Thermos, a pair of ecto-pistols, some bandages, and an emergency phone. He was a walking disaster. Calling him a ghost hunter would be a joke. He wasn't a hunter, he was like the raid boss in a video game that you throw yourself against because there is an achievement for losing to it. Though the repeat offenders continue to baffle him to no end.   
  
It was rather nice that the ghosts that had plagued his life for the last year were unable to enter the city due to a powerful barrier that had been placed around it. Which freed up a lot of Danny's free time to do other things; like napping.   
  
It had been a week since they had arrived and he was starting to get used to the class. Rin was a funny guy, a bit hard headed but he did try to do what he thought was right. He was a bit older than Danny himself but he didn't act it. While Yukio acted way older than he was, until no one was looking when he seemed to break down.   
  
Jazz had pestered Danny and Rin to do better in their studies, going so far as to sit them both down in the dining hall and go over their homework for the cram school with them. Something that neither one of them appreciated, because it just made them feel stupid.   
  
Bon was still acting as though Danny and Rin were his rivals. Danny actually fell behind the other two when it came to general fitness. But he was far ahead in sharpshooting and swordplay.   
  
Bon also declared Jazz as his rival after finding out that she could memorize passages from the holy scriptures just as well as he could.   
  
Danny quickly found that this was really just a way of self motivation for Bon, who was striving to be the best. Though all of his acting, he was actually pretty friendly, despite his face. Something that Danny had learned not to mention, when he realized that it really was stuck like that from years of frowning.   
  
"That will be all for today," Yukio said as he closed his book. "Now I'm sure you are all aware that summer break is coming up soon, but before that you will have to take your exwire authorization exams."   
  
"A squire? What's that?" Rin said, scratching his head. He could remember people saying things about it before but he had never asked what it was.   
  
"It's exwire. It's the official name for exorcist candidates," Shiemi whispered to him.   
  
"You'll have more specialized training once you become exwires, so the exam isn't going to be easy," Yukio said as he picked up a stack of forms. "That's why we'll be going on a week-long training camp next week."   
  
"A training camp?" Jazz mumbled. She briefly hoped that Danny would be forced to attend. He had been rather on the antisocial side. Only talking with Rin and Ukobach, the kitchen demon. He would talk to anyone if the other cram school students if pressed, but Rin usually had to drag him into conversations. She knew that he stayed up late at nights to call back to Amity to talk to Sam and Tucker, his old friends from their previous school, but he needed new friends. Jazz's hopes were wiped away with Yukio's next words.   
  
"The training camp isn't mandatory, so please mark down whether or not you are going to attend. But you must still return the forms to me by Monday with what field you want to advance in as a Meister," Yukio said as he passed out the forms to the class.   
  
"'Field'... 'Meister'?" Rin pondered as he looked at the form. He had no clue what was going on. So he did what he always did. He walked over to the other guys and asked. "Hey, what's a 'Meister'?" Rin asked Bon. Bon looked at him like he was an idiot. "Come on... help a guy out here," Rin begged.   
  
"You want to be an exorcist, and you don't even know that much?" Bon said incredulously. Rin looked to Danny in the row behind Bon but he just shrugged.   
  
"You really don't know anything, do you Okumura?" Renzo laughed good naturedly.   
  
"Hey, it isn't like I'm the only one. Danny doesn't know either," Rin said in his defense.   
  
"That could be said about everything that happens here," Danny pointed out. "Story of my life, so sad so sad," He mumbled disinterestedly.   
  
Konekomaru took pity on them and started to explain. "A meister is a necessary qualification for exorcists. It's a title given to those who are skilled enough. The five fields of meisters are Knight, Dragoon, Tamer, Aria and Doctor."   
  
"I see... I think I get it," Rin said, sitting down next to Konekomaru.   
  
"Hey, who said you could sit with us!" Bon shouted.   
  
"Bon, what did I say about playing nice?" Jazz said, looking back and over at the boy who only started grumbling. Jazz was try to break Bon of his personality problems, but it wasn't going so well. Not that she was one to give up. Something that was quickly annoying the younger boy.   
  
"Your fighting style will be different depending on what type of meister you are," Konekomaru continued as if he hadn't heard Bon or Jazz.   
  
"I see. Thanks, Konekomaru," Rin said with a huge grin. "What are you taking?"   
  
"Shima and I are aiming for Aria," Konekomaru said.   
  
"Aria?" Rin said, rolling the word around in his mouth.   
  
"Arias are exorcist who fight by reciting the Bible and other holy scriptures," Konekomaru explained.   
  
"Bon here is trying for both Aria and Dragoon, because he so hardcore and all," Renzo said sarcastically.   
  
"Oh, that's our Bon," Rin said impressed.   
  
"Don't call me Bon!" Bon said made that Rin was referring to him in such a friendly manner as using his nickname. Danny couldn't even remember what his real name was. He didn't think he had ever heard anyone say it. Rin made a point of only calling Bon Bon in order to mess with the guy.   
  
"Our teacher, Mr. Okumura is a meister in both Doctor and Dragoon," Konekomaru pointed out.   
  
"Wow, Yukio kicks butt," Rin said impressed by his little brother. "I wonder what I should do," Rin scratched his chin as he read down the list. "This Dragoon thing, what is it?"   
  
Bon slammed his hand down on the table. "You freaking idiot, a dragoon is a meister who fights with a gun. And a Knight is someone who fights with a freaking sword," Bon snapped, pointing out the obvious.   
  
"Look how Bon's acting all tough, but he is explaining it to him anyways," Renzo commented.   
  
"You would be a lot happier if you were just honest with yourself Bon," Jazz teased.   
  
"Shut up!" Bon said as he flushed bright red.   
  
"Did you just say sword?" Rin asked as the words finally hit him.   
  
"Yeah, the meisters who fight with swords are called Knights," Konekomaru said again.   
  
"Alright then, I'll be a Knight!" Rin said proudly. Then he turned back to look at Danny. "What are you going for?"   
  
Danny scratched his head. "Don't know. Maybe I'll go for Knight, Dragoon and Aria, just so I can one up Bon," Danny said with a cocky grin.   
  
"Shut up! You can't be a Aria, you can't memorize shit!" Bon swore at Danny's decoration.   
  
"Bon, what did I tell you about language?" Jazz said, raising an eyebrow as the boy started to grumble again, swearing under his breath. "I'm thinking that I'll try out for Doctor, since I'm not really that good on the battlefield."   
  
"You got that right," Danny mumbled, unconsciously rubbing his own butt, remembering the times she would pull him into the Fenton Thermos by his tail, a demon's most sensitive body part.   
  
This set off a whole argument over whether or not Jazz had gotten any better since those days, which ultimately lasted until the next class. Tamer try outs.

 

* * *

 

 

"Now I will summon a demon," The instructor said as he placed the finishing touches on his chalk summoning circle on the ground. The man looked more than a little worn from age and he had an eye-patch over his left eye. His deep voice gave an impression of impassive hatred of everyone and everything.  
  
Rin was about to take a step to get a closer look when the instructor threw him a glare. "Don't move. If the magic circle is broken, it loses its effect," He spat, causing Rin to jump backwards. "To summon a demon you will need some of your own blood and a suitable invocation," The teacher said holding out a bandaged hand over the chalk circle and letting a few drops of blood fall onto it. "Son of Typhoeus and Echidna, heed my call!" He chanted. A black goo began to bubble up from the circle and pushed itself out of the flow before taking the shape of a twisted patchwork zombie dog.  
  
"Is that a Naberious?" Konekomaru said a little awed.  
  
"I've never seen one before," Bon agreed.  
  
"Eww, Sulfur," Renzo said, holding his shirt sleeve over his noise.  
  
"There are very few people who can summon demons and use them as familiars," The instructor informed them. "To tame a demon you need to have a strong spiritual strength. This can't be learned, you need to have talent."  
  
The students shifted a little uneasily as he said this. "Now we will test you to see if any of you has this talent," The teacher said as he pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket. "Put a drop of your blood on the paper with the magic circle I gave you when you entered the room, and then say any words that come to mind."  
  
Izumo, one of the other girls in the class, didn't hesitate, pricking her finger and smearing a drop of her blood over two of the papers. "I humbly call upon the Gods of Harvest. Follow my wishes, leave none unfulfilled!" She shouted. Streams of light came from the pieces of paper, which both formed into beautiful white foxes.  
  
Danny let out a sigh of white mist as he sensed the demons that had just been summoned. Two low level spirit class demons, the white foxes could easily be spotted by their spectral tails that hung in the air behind them. Danny could tell that they had a light subtype by the way the light bent around their golden eyes.  
  
Izumo herself puffed out her chest in pride and being able to summon her familiars. The girl was fairly average height with two long black pony tails and dot like eyebrows. But the feature that fascinated Danny the most was the one that could almost be called nonhuman. The girl hard eyes the color of rose petals. A deep red that caught the light revealing pink hues. The girl probably had some demon blood in her, making it easier for her to summon her familiars.  
  
The other tried and failed. Only Shiemi managed to get anything at all. Summoning a baby green man, a type of demon that Danny was unfamiliar with.  
  
But soon it was Danny's turn. He looked down at the paper. "I've got a bad feeling about this," He said with a sigh as he pricked his thumb with the needle and pressed it against the paper. Words began to form in his mind, so he spoke them out loud. "Come to me, O hound of Hecate. Come to me, for the hunt shall soon begin." He said in an uncharacteristically deep voice.  
  
Dark green flames trickled out of the black lines on the paper forming around each other until with a small pop, a vivid green dog fell from the flames and onto the ground at Danny's feet. As Danny realized what it was, he paled. Some of the other student were congratulating him, but the Fenton siblings knew better.  
  
"Danny... did you just summon Cujo here," Jazz said, taking a step back.  
  
"Oh look at him, he's so unbelievably adorable," Rin said, bending over and petting the dog who fell to his back to let the boy pet his stomach.  
  
"We need to get rid of him, fast, before he notice the..." Jazz started but it was too late. Cujo had stuck his nose into the air and began to sniff. His red eyes falling on the Naberious hound.  
  
Cujo began to growl and Rin fell back as the tiny puppy exploded in size until its shoulders were pressing against the high roof of the classroom.  
  
"What the heck!" Renzo shouted, pointing at the ghost dog before it gave a deafening roar and rushed the Naberious. It picked up the zombie dog in its jaws and threw it across the room before jumping on top of it, pinning the struggling thing against the ground as it tore into it with claws and teeth until the creature disappeared into a puff of dust.  
  
Then Cujo's head lifted and it turned its gaze to the twin white fox spirits. Rin and Danny rushed the giant dog, trying to jump onto it and cover its eyes.  
  
"Bad dog! Bad! Stop this right now Cujo!" Danny shouted as he tried to wrestle with the huge ghost dog. But Cujo rammed the two half demons into the ceiling, causing them to fall off before it turned its gaze to the foxes again which were both trying to runaway. The entire classroom was in a panic.  
  
Cujo was about to leap onto them when a squeak filled the air. The massive dog stopped and sat down, his head turning to the sound. Jazz was hold a pink rubber ball over her head. "Come on Cujo, get the ball, get it," She said, throwing it into the corner of the room.  
  
Cujo barked and jumped for the ball, his body shrinking down as he went through the air.  
  
"Tear up the paper!" The instructor yield at Danny, who was working on getting the stars out of his eyes. Danny found the paper he had used to summon the dog and ripped it in half, causing the ghost to disappear, taking the ball with him.  
  
"Jazz, why did you have a squeaky toy on you?" Danny asked as he got up.  
  
"Just in case Cujo showed up," Jazz said with a shrug.  
  
"What the heck was that thing?" Renzo ask, shaking as he looked to where the dog had last been seen.  
  
"An upper middle level spirit type demon, hellhound," The instructor said, glaring at Danny. "You can't even control your own familiar, you're worse than useless as a tamer."  
  
"Wow thanks. Oh and sorry about all the pieces of your zombie dog you're going to have to stitch back together again. I'm sure my dog had fun tossing him around like a rag doll," Danny grumbled. "Cujo just doesn't know how to play well with others. He's only a puppy."  
  
"That was a puppy?" Bon said wide eyed.  
  
"Danny, that was awesome!" Rin said happily as he picked himself out of the desks he landed in.  
  
"Looks like we have our 'two' candidates for tamers this year," The instructor said, turning to go. "Tamers who can fight using summoned demons are rare and highly valued among exorcists. But remember, demons will never obey someone who is weaker than themselves. On the contrary, they attack those who have lost their confidence. As I told you earlier, if the magic circle is broken, the bond will break and the summon will disappear. So if you feel threatened, just rip up the paper." With that the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. "Today's class is over," The teacher said, walking out through the door.  
  
"Never thought we'd see Cujo here," Danny said as he looked down at the torn up piece of paper before looking up at the racked classroom. He smiled a little to himself at the memories. "Stupid mutt," He mumbled. But that didn't stop him from pocketing a dozen of those papers on the way out of the classroom. Might as well.


	7. Chapter 7

“That blasted fruit loop of a demon planned this," Danny grumbled as he sat in front of the dorm with Rin, Yukio and Jazz.   
  
Knowing that Danny would try to opt out of being in the training camp, Mephisto had the camp being held at their dorm, so Danny wouldn't be able to get away from it.   
  
"Danny, can't you try to be more friendly with the others?" Jazz asked her little brother. "No man's an island you know."   
  
"Jazz, let me spell this out for you. They are all training to be demon hunters, people who hunt down demon's and end them for a living, and I am part demon. Things just won't work out," Danny said, pulling his legs in. "It will turn out just like Valerie. They'll turn on me the second they see my demon form. I don't need them. I'm strong enough to survive on my own."   
  
"Danny, it won't matter to them what you are if they get to know you first," Jazz said, trying to convince Danny.   
  
"Really? If that's what you think, then why didn't you ever tell our parents what I am? And don't say it was because it wasn't your secret to tell. You know just as well as I do that there was a good chance they would have tried to kill me in my sleep the moment they suspected a thing," Danny said bitterly. "To people like them, I'm simply prey. And nothing will change that."   
  
"Danny..." Jazz mumbled as the boy got up and went inside. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. Jazz sighed and followed him in.   
  
"Wonder what's wrong with those two," Yukio said disinterestedly as he glanced down at a check list.   
  
"Shiemi's totally turning into her servant," Rin grunted angrily.   
  
"Huh?" Yukio said, not sure where that had come from.   
  
"Nevermind..." Rin sighed, realizing he had been thinking out loud. Recently Shiemi had been trying to be friends with Izumo, since they were both able to summon their familiars. But since she had no idea how friendship worked, Shiemi just end up just being used by the other girl. This was pissing Rin off to no end, but no one else seemed to even notice. "By the way, why's the training camp in our dorm?" Rin asked, trying to change the subject.   
  
"Because it's no problem if we get a bit loud, since we're the only ones that live here," Yukio said, crossing his arms. "Or at least that is the official reason. I believe it is to force Danny to participate even though he chose to opt out."   
  
"We'll I guess it'll be nice to have him around anyways, even if he doesn't want to be," Rin said, putting his hands behind his head.   
  
The other students finally arrived, they were looking up at the run down dorm building with a bit of shock. "What's this? It looks like a haunted hotel," Bon said.   
  
Rin chuckled a bit to himself. After all, the place was haunted by one demon and two half demons.   
  
"I don't like this place. It feels creepy. Couldn't we go somewhere nicer?" Izumo said as she looked up at the building in disgust. "Oh, take this," She said, handing her bag to Shiemi who gladly took it.   
  
Rin glared at this. Not only was Izumo insulting his home, she was taking advantage of his crush. The half demon boy had to use all his self control not to walk up and smack her with that handbag.   
  
"Moriyama, you don't have to do it if you don't want to..." Paku said. The brown haired girl was Izumo's only real friend and was a little put of by the way Izumo was treating the other girl. But Shiemi just smiled as said she was being a good friend by helping out.   


 

* * *

 

Everything had come down to this, the future would be decided by what could be done in these last few critical seconds. Rin worked as fast as he could, but he was only just now realizing how hopelessly over his head he really was as the last few seconds ticked away.   
  
A buzzer went off and Rin's heart fell. "Turn over your papers and pass your tests this way," Yukio said as the test ended.   
  
"It's finally over..." Renzo said, sounding almost as miserable as Rin felt.   
  
"I hate you Mephisto... I hate you so much," Danny kept, saying over and over again.   
  
Rin pushed himself up and started to stumble towards the door. "I need to get some air," He mumbled as he went. Danny getting in toe behind him, saying that he was going to the roof to watch the stars.   
  
"Tomorrow, we will be waking up at six to have a quiz over the test materials before we start classes," Yukio informed the class before Rin and Danny managed to get out.   
  
The two glared at Yukio. "And they call us demons," Rin mumbled angrily as they marched out.   
  
"Paku, let's go take a bath," Izumo said as she got up from the long table.   
  
"Alright," Paku agreed.   
  
"Me too!" Shiemi quickly said, wanting to go take a bath with her new 'friend'.   
  
Paku looked to Jazz who was staring at the door. "Are you coming as well?" She asked.   
  
Jazz blinked but shook her head. "I think I will go back to my room for a bit. Maybe I'll join you later," She said before getting up. All the girls left the room.   
  
"Oh man. Four girls... taking a bath... together..." Renzo said, the pink haired boy smiled as he imagined it. "I get the feeling we'll have to go and take a little peek."   
  
"Shima, you're a monk!" Bon shouted angrily.   
  
"His bad habits are showing again," Konekomaru sighed.   
  
"Look who's talking. Admit it, you're just as interested as I am," Renzo said, leaning back.   
  
"Shima, think about it, what do you think would happen if you were caught? Not only would Izumo be at your throat, but Okumura and Fenton would go nuts if they found out you peeked in on Moriyama and Jazz," Bon pointed out. "You would never make it out alive."   
  
Renzo paled when the memory of Cujo came to mind. Not to mention the blades that Danny and Rin carried around and the teeth on those white fox spirits. "You got a point there," He finally agreed. The venture was not worth his life.   


 

* * *

 

 

Rin was finally starting to unwind after the test, moving back up towards his dorm room when he came across Shiemi standing outside the girls bathroom alone. "Shiemi, what are you doing? Is something wrong?" He asked.   
  
"No, it's nothing... I've got to go buy some fruit milk," She said, trying to move past Rin without letting him look at her face. But Rin grabbed her hand.   
  
"Hey, stop that!" Rin said, his voice full of concern.   
  
"'That?'" Shiemi said, trying to play dumb.   
  
"Stop acting like you're her servant!" Rin elaborated.   
  
"I'm not her servant! She's my friend and I'm helping her!" Shiemi said defensively.   
  
"Is that really what you think is going on here? It isn't, is it?" Rin said seriously. The girl refused to look him in the eyes.   
  
"I don't want to just depend on others for help all the time," She mumbled. "I want to... I want to be strong enough to help others! She is my first friend!" She shouted after some hesitation. "You don't understand, you've always been strong. You've always had friends!" She said, catching Rin by surprise and managing to pull herself out of his grip to run off.   
  
"Shiemi," He mumbled, thinking of how wrong she was. He was the one who always had to depend on others. He was the one who had never had any friends growing up. He was the monster. He grunted and chased after her. Someone needed to talk some sense into the girl.

 

* * *

 

 

"I'm glad that the bath is clean at least," Izumo said as she started to take off her close and put them in the lockers. "This place is like a haunted house."   
  
"Izumo, why are you so mean to her?" Paku asked as she watched her friend strip.   
  
"Huh? Well, I don't consider her my friend," Izumo admitted. "She's the weird one for following my orders like that," Then she perked up. "But you're different, Paku. You're my best friend!" She said happily. "I'm so happy that you came to the cram school with me!"   
  
"Though, I can't keep up with the classes at all..." Paku said, avoiding Izumo's eyes.   
  
"That's alright, I'll help you," Izumo declared as she had taken off all but her bra and panties. "You've always been by my side, so it's only right that I help you."   
  
Paku looked down and a few seconds passed before she said anything. "Izumo... I'm quitting the cram school," She finally said.   
  
Izumo was shocked. "But, why?" She asked once she regained her voice.   
  
"I don't really understand the classes, and I just can't see myself risking my life in battle," Paku admitted sadly.   
  
"But I'll protect you..." Izumo tried to say but Paku just shook her head.   
  
"No, that doesn't make sense. Also... I don't like how you make fun of the people who are only trying their best," Paku finally said. Izumo looked down, ashamed of herself. "Sorry for saying this all of a sudden. I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't... a real friend would have told you sooner. I'm sorry."   
  
Izumo didn't know what to say. She was trying to think of something that would get Paku to stay with her, but before she could say anything a drop of blown liquid fell from the ceiling and landed on Paku's face.   
  
Both girls looked up to see a massive gray creature the size of a small car hanging onto the roof. It looked as if it was a bunt of human body parts stitched together with four arms and two heads, one of which was stitched in such a way that it had no eyes or mouth. A long tail extended from its bottom ending in a hook like tip.   
  
The ghoul turned to the girls showing a hideous face inside of the mask of rotting skin.   
  
The girls screamed as it fell from the ceiling and knocked Paku to the ground. The ghouls fluids dripped out onto Paku's arm, dissolving away her shirt and burning the girl's skin. "No, a wound from a ghoul must be treated immediately." Izumo thought as she reached into her locker to pull out some summoning papers. She put her blood on two of them and said her incantation. The two foxes appeared in front of her waiting for orders.   


 

* * *

 

 

Danny was laying on the roof watching the stars turning around in the heavens. He didn't want to be a exorcist. He didn't want to have anything to do with demons or hunting them. His parents had given up him and his sister for something as stupid as hunting demons, and he refused to be like them.   
  
Those were his thought up until a stream of white mist left his mouth and he noticed the presence of Izumo's white fox spirits as well as another demon he didn't recognize. After that, he was moving before he even had time to think. It was time to take out the garbage.   
  


* * *

 

  
Rin had been trying to stop Shiemi when they heard the scream coming from the girls bathroom. "What was that?" Rin said, looking back over his shoulder.   
  
"That was Izumo, and Paku," Shiemi said alarmed.   
  
Rin let go of Shiemi and started running for the girls bathroom. "You go and get Yukio!" He shouted as he went.   
  
"Rin!" Shiemi shouted back as she watched him go. "He's amazing. He rushes to help them without any hesitation," She thought. She took a moment and made up her mind. And she ran to catch up to Rin.


	8. Chapter 8

Izumo took a gulp of air as she stared at the middle level rot demon as he crouched over her friend. She gripped her palms so hard that her knuckles turned white. It was the first real encounter with a wild demon since what happened to her own mother.   
  
The memory of that day brought a shudder down her spin but she pushed the feeling down. She had to protect Paku, she would... no she could not let herself lose her only friend. ...But, was she still her friend? Did Paku hate her for the way she had been acting? For being who she was?   
  
The fear that had been introduced into the girl's heart by her friend's last words before the ghoul had attacked was echoing through her mind. 'That doesn't make sense... I don't like...' Izumo tried to push the thoughts out of her mind, but it was too late.   
  
One of the two white fox spirits had taken notice sniffing the air, smelling the girl's weakness. "Girl, what is with this state of your heart?" It demanded as the two foxes turned away from the ghoul to bare their teeth at her.   
  
"What..?" Izumo mumbled as she slowly realized her mistake. He knees were starting to give way as fear passed through her.   
  
"We will not follow someone as weak as you!" The other fox shouted as they attempted to pounce on her. She screamed and her knees gave way.   
  
But before the summoned demons could attack her, Rin stepped out in front of her and delivered a solid punch to each of the spirits' faces, knocking them back.   
  
Izumo looked up dumbly at her savior. "Tear up the paper!" Rin shouted quickly.   
  
"Ri...right," Izumo stammered as she took the two summoning circles and tore them to pieces.   
  
Rin gave a small sigh of relief as the two fox spirits disappeared in a puff of white smoke, but then he turned to the much big problem at hand. The ghoul that was leaning over his classmate.   
  
'Damn, I can't use my sword with in front of her,' Rin thought as he felt Izumo's eyes on his back. 'Hurry it the hell up Yukio.'   
  
But he was taken by surprise when Shiemi ran into the room. "Rin," She said as she walked up next to him. Then she saw Paku. "Oh, Paku's hurt. Rin, you hold off the ghoul while I help Ms. Paku," Shiemi said before moving forward as fast as her pink kimono would let her.   
  
Rin was too shocked to argue. He just grabbed his sword, keeping it inside of the cloth carrying case so that his flames would not flare up, and he ran forward to knock the ghoul off of Paku and back towards the showers area.   
  
Rin took up a defensive position between the ghoul and the girls, but he might as well not have. He had the ghoul's complete attention now.   
  
"Young Prince," The ghoul drowned, making Rin's eyes shot open from surprise.   
  
It was enough of an opening for the ghoul to lung forward and wrap its hand around Rin's neck before throwing him to the side, through the glass wall that separated the lockers from the bath area itself.   
  
"Rin!?" Shiemi shouted, worried about her friend.   
  
"Don't worry about me!" Rin shouted back. "Just take care of Paku."   
  
Shiemi was worried, but Paku needed her immediate attention.   
  
It was Izumo who felt useless sitting there on her knees, watching everyone else fight.   
  
Rin was grabbed again and slammed against the tile ground, the ghoul hanging over him. "Forgive me... I only do... as my master commands me to," The ghoul said slowly.   
  
'Master? Does he mean Satan?' Rin wondered as the ghoul slowly choked the life out of him. 'I can't hold out much longer... not without my flames,' He thought to himself as he patted the ground around him, trying to find his sword.   
  
Izumo watch in horror as the boy was being suffocated underneath the ghoul, but there was nothing she could do. She didn't dare try summoning again. Not after what had just happened.   
  
Suddenly a black blur shot through the room and moved straight past the demon who gave a scream of pain and reared back.   
  
"You're a pretty dumb demon to leave your tail exposed like that," Someone said from behind the ghoul. Izumo was shocked to see Danny standing behind the ghoul with his left hand wrapped firmly around its tail pulling it hard so that the creature backed off of Rin who gasped for breath.   
  
The ghoul turned its upper body around, trying to use its two right arms to hit the boy, but Danny ducked underneath the swing and slashed at the ghoul's right leg with his spear, severing the limb.   
  
As the ghoul screamed, Danny buried the head of his spear in the floor, and using it as leverage, he delivered a double heel kick to the ghoul's stitched closed head, knocking the creature back and causing it to lose its balance so that it fell to the ground with a heavy thud.   
  
"You alright, Rin?" Danny asked, offering the older boy a hand up.   
  
"I thought you said you were done fighting demons?" Rin joked as he took the boy's hand.   
  
"What can I say? I'm OCD, I just can't rest while there is filth nearby," Danny said with a shrug and a cocky smile. The ghoul started getting up and a new leg sprouted from its old stump. "Ouch, that looked like it hurt," Danny said, flipping over his hunting spear to point threateningly that the ghoul. "How about you just walk away, so I won't have to do it to you again." The ghoul backed away slightly, as if frightened.   
  
Izumo couldn't believe what she was seeing. Danny had always been fairly quiet. Not the mysterious, antisocial freak quiet, just quiet. He didn't want to be an exorcist and saw everything they did as a waste of time. But here he was staring down a mid rank demon like it was nothing. His green eyes seemed so sure of themselves.   
  
'Green? I thought he had blue eyes?' A voice echoed somewhere inside of Izumo's mind. Then she saw it. It was only there for a half a second, she wasn't even sure that it wasn't just her imagination, but she saw a long silvery mist just behind the boy, it was a demon's tail.   
  
"I cannot... I must fulfill my master's orders," The ghoul said, raising itself back up to its full height of just under twelve feet. Its head just barely not brushing the ceiling.   
  
"Then for your sake, I'm sorry," Danny said, getting ready for the demon.   
  
"You guys are talking to much," Rin grumbled as he lifted back up his sword, still in its case.   
  
The ghoul rushed forward but Rin swung his sword and batted the outstretched arms to the side, giving Danny enough room to drive his spear into the demon's chest. It staggered back from the blow, but it wasn't enough to kill a ghoul that was in a darkened room.   
  
"Danny, move!" Rin shouted as the ghoul's arm went around to grab Danny, but the boy let go of his spear and just backed off. Rin then stepped forward and kicked the butt of the spear as hard as he could, knocking the ghoul back and causing the spear to be nailed into the wall behind the it. The ghoul moved for a few seconds but then stopped. "Wow, we got him," Rin said, grinning as he approached the downed demon.   
  
"Rin get away from there!" Danny tried to warn him, but it was too late. One of the ghoul's left arms grabbed Rin and throw him hard into Danny, knocking them both back.   
  
The ghoul then pulled itself over the spear, leaving a trail of its fluid over the shaft as it got free. It turned again towards the room's occupants, but it was shot in the face with a burst of green light. Danny had brought out his ectopistols and was firing on the ghoul.   
  
The ectopistols would only do real damage to a spirit type demon, but the light produced by the shots was still enough to blind it and drive it back.   
  
The ghoul felt its strength draining away because of the light of the guns and it took the time to flee the scene as the door to the girl's bath opened again and Jazz stood there with her own ectopistols, firing away while Yukio pulled out his own gun. The ghoul jumped up into a sky light and made its escape.   
  
"Is everyone ok!?" Yukio shouted.   
  
"You're late!" Rin shouted back angrily.   
  
"But not too late," Yukio pointed out as he moved through the room to check on the injured Paku. Shiemi had used her familiar to create plants to treat the burn wounds as best she could.   
  
Izumo had moved behind the lockers so that no one could see her. Not only was she in nothing but her underwear, she was ashamed of herself. She had been useless. It didn't get any better when she hear Yukio tell Shiemi. "You did good, who knows what would have happened of you hadn't been here."   
  
Even Shiemi, the useless klutz had done better than her. Izumo broke into tears. But the sound of her crying attracted Danny.   
  
"You alright? You're not hurt are you?" Danny asked, looking down at the crying girl as he rounded the corner.   
  
"Don't look at me!" She shouted at him, taking him a bit by surprise. "I don't want anyone to see me like this!" She said, burying her head in her knees. "I couldn't even save my best friend, and now she hates me." The girl sobbed.   
  
Danny didn't exactly know what to do, so he sighed and took off his shirt and dropped it over her. "Put this on. You can sneak out while everyone's still distracted," He suggested, turning away from her.   
  
She looked up at him and saw that underneath his long sleeved shirt, his entire body was covered in scars; cuts, bites, burns, punctures, etc. His body told the story of a hundred battles. And for the first time, Izumo actually wondered who this boy was.   
  
She pulled on his shirt and moved out of the room while everyone was tending to Paku. A finally tear coming to her eye as she saw her friend, unconscious on the floor.   
  


* * *

 

  
Rin, Shiemi, Yukio, Bon, Konekomaru, and Renzo all stared at Danny as he tried to remain nonchalant while they stared at his battle scars. "Danny... why did you take off your shirt?" Jazz asked, being the only one that could speak.   
  
"Oh... it had some of the Ghoul's fluids on it. So I took it off." Danny said with a shrug. He looked at them all before heading towards the exit. "I'll be up on the roof if you need me." He said, waving them off. But as he turned the corner his eyes burned green. If his sister had decided to take a bath with the others, than she could have been the one attacked. And if this demon's 'master' thought that Danny was going to let him attack his sister, then he must not have known who he was messing with.   
  
He went to his room, holding a bit of cloth that was quickly dissolving from the ghoul's fluids. He reached for one of his summoning papers. "Come to me, O hound of Hecate. Come to me, for the hunt shall soon begin."


	9. Chapter 9

Danny moved quickly through the pitch black night. Even though there was a new moon, he had not trouble seeing every detail of the darkened streets as he rode through the air on Cujo's back, holding onto the dog's collar with one hand and a practice sword from the weapon's closet in the other.   
  
He was forced to leave his spear behind. It was absolutely covered in the ghoul's fluids and would have burned the skin off of any human that tried to touch it. Even though Danny was not fully human, he could not carry it without alerting all the exorcists in training of that fact.   
  
He had also grabbed a few holy water grenades and switched out his ectopistols for a more traditional gun that's rounds had silver casing and were filled with church graveyard's soil, both of which were known to be effective against rot type demons. Danny would have never admitted to Yukio, but he did learn some things during class, even if he did sleep though herbology.   
  
But that wasn't the only thing he would never admit. Though this was something he was refusing to admit to himself. His blood was ringing with excitement. The thrill of the hunt pumped through him like a piston with every bound that Cujo took through the air. He was going to bring this demon to its knees and force it to tell him about its master. And then he would teach whatever fruitloop was behind the attack who they were messing with.   
  
Cujo stopped for a moment on the roof of the school cafeteria, pushing his nose up into the air and taking a few long sniffs. Even among spirit type demons, the ability of the hell hounds to sense other demons was in a league in and of itself. Even if the ghoul had fled to the ends of the Earth, Cujo would be able to track him down. And once one of Hecate's hunting dogs got the scent of their prey, nothing short of their host's obsession could stop them.   
  
The ghost dog growled and rushed into the air again, moving towards a nearby clock tower. Cujo landed along the side of the building, defying gravity as he walked up its side sniffing the walls.   
  
Danny could see the fluids from the wound that Danny and Rin had inflicted on the ghoul stretching out like the trail left by a slug. "Alright, we've got its trail, now where the demon, boy," Danny whispered to his hound, patting the beast on the head. It moved up to the top of the tower before stopping, he sniffed the air in both directions and whined, pawing at the ground beneath him. "You've lost its scent, how's that possible."   
  
Cujo walked forward and phased them through the clock tower wall. It was there that Danny saw something that nearly made him start cursing. A chalk summoning circle, one with a design he hadn't seen before, a double moon separated by the image of a tree and surrounded by mirrored Hebrew script. The finer details of the circle were difficult to make out since it had been dispelled by a splash of vinegar, the smell of it destroying any chance of finding the blood of the person who had made the circle. The reason Cujo couldn't find the ghoul, was because the ghoul was no longer on Earth.   
  
"I guess the guy's 'master' wasn't a demon after all," Danny mumbled as he dismounted from Cujo to get a closer look. "Think you can follow the human's scent boy?" Danny asked. Cujo moved his head closer to the circle and took a few deep sniffs, but then he started to whine again. "That's ok boy, I understand. It’s harder for you to tell the difference between humans, and this city is full of them," Danny said, scratching the hound behind the ear as he returned to his puppy size. "Humans..."   
  
Cujo jumped and began to growl just as Danny himself noticed the presence of a demon right behind him. He turned quickly, swinging around the wooden practice sword that was quickly covered in his bright green ghostly energy. The blow was powerful, but that didn't matter, as Mephisto blocked it with his simple pink umbrella.   
  
"Now what is a normal child like you doing up at this hour?" Mephisto asked with his normal cocky grin, acting as if the strike had never happened. "I thought you didn't wish to hunt demons."   
  
"I could ask you the same thing," Danny grumbled as he lowered his now broken sword. The force of the impact between it and the umbrella having reduced it to splinters. "What is a respected headmaster doing here on the roof with a magic summoning circle?" Danny said as he waved down Cujo, luckily the dog seemed to realize he was out of his league, and didn't attack.   
  
Mephisto chuckled. "I am here for the same reason you are. I'm not about to take some pitiful mid rank demon sneaking through my barriers lightly. No one makes a disturbance on my campus. No one, but me that is," Mephisto said as he twirled his umbrella around a finger. "But it seems that the demon had some help. By an exorcist no less. How surprising," Mephisto said, not sounding surprised at all.   
  
"Why would an exorcist try to attack our class? That makes no sense," Danny said.   
  
"Oh, I can think of two very good reasons why a demon hunter might have targeted those girls," Mesphisto said as he made an armchair appear behind him and sat down in it, crossing his legs and calling up a plate of cookies.   
  
"So... they were after Jazz... to get to me..." Danny practically growled.   
  
"Oh my, not much of a gentleman are you?" Mephisto said as Danny's eyes turned green and his silvery spectral tail became more visible as his demon powers were pulled to the surface by his anger. "Do you really think you can live a normal life when you have a temper like that?" He teased as Danny struggled to regain control and his tail faded from sight again. "But it is true that not everyone in the True Cross Order sees hybrids as any better than wild demons. So if one found out about you or Rin, they might do anything they could to either kill you or they could try to break you to turn you into just another one of their familiars. Though I doubt they could honestly do that." Mephisto leaned forward to look Danny in the eyes. "Don't think for a second that they would ever hesitated to use your sister and friends as bargaining chips. Most of the higher ups in the Vatican act more like demons than even the demons do."   
  
Danny glared at the headmaster who was trying to look innocent. "Come on, Cujo. Let’s go. That ghoul isn't even here," Danny said as he stepped away from the Demon King. Cujo began to return to his the size of a small elephant.   
  
"Don't think for a second that you can just run from this forever Danny. The only way that a demon as powerful as you can last in this world is to either work with the exorcists, or kill enough of them to be considered too big of a risk to be worth messing with. You will have to decide eventually. Not that I really care which one you pick," Mephisto said, shrugging. "It is your life. I just own it."   
  
"So you want me to either become your weapon or a monster. No thanks," Danny said, looking over his shoulder at the older demon. "That just isn't me. I'll find my own path." And with that Danny swung himself back up onto Cujo's back and the dog passed straight through the wall and back towards the dorm.   
  
"Yes, but what path will it be? The path of a demon? A pleasure seeker who lets himself be driven by his own instincts and desires. Or the path of a human, who's vague morals make them weak." Mephisto wondered as he at one of the cookies. "Or perhaps you will find a way to surprise even me." His smile faded a bit. "Do not underestimate your students. Or else you might find yourself missing more than just your eye."   


 

* * *

 

Danny gave a long yawn as he walked through the halls of the dorm towards the cafeteria. He had been out for a good part of the night searching for any trace of the exorcist who had summoned the demon, but he hadn't find anything. Mephisto's words kept replaying in his head, making him want to punch the smug jerk's lights out. Though that would have probably only made the Demon King all the happier if he had tried.   
  
He was just passing the stairs when he was stopped. Izumo was standing in front of him trying not to look at him. "Hey... you better not tell anyone," She mumbled.   
  
"Huh?" Danny wondered, scratching his head.   
  
Izumo glared at him. "You better not tell anyone that I was crying," She said more strictly.   
  
"Oh that," Danny said, realizing what she was talking about. "You can't feel too bad about it. You were just in shock that's all. Happens to everyone," Danny said with a shrug.   
  
"I said don't tell anyone!" Izumo nearly shouted, stomping her foot for emphasis.   
  
"Hey calm down. I won't tell," Danny said, waving her off. "Who would I even tell? In cause you hadn't notice, I don't really talk to our classmates."   
  
Izumo looked down sheepishly and a moment passed before she pulled out the shirt that Danny had given her to cover up the night before. "Here," She said not looking at him. Danny blinked a little and took it. "Thanks for saving us and everything," She mumbled.   
  
"O wow, you really can be nice when you want to be," Danny said a bit surprised.   
  
"N...nice?" Izumo repeated, blushing slightly.   
  
"I wasn't expecting a thank you, or to ever get this shirt back," Danny said, inspecting the shirt. "You even washed it."   
  
"What... I... I only washed it because it smelled," Izumo said, putting her nose up in the air.   
  
Danny laughed. "You know you probably would have more friends if you didn't put so much energy into trying to seem unapproachable," He joked. Izumo went silent and looked down. Danny blinked as he noticed the signs that said he did something wrong. "Um... sorry, that was out of line." He apologies, though he didn't really know what for.   
  
"Shut up! I don't need advice on how to make friends from someone like you!" Izumo said, trying to seem proud and stubborn, even though she was still blushing.   
  
Danny didn't know what to say about that, so he was lucky when Rin and Yukio came down the stairs right next to them, Yukio holding a box of medicine.   
  


* * *

 

  
Danny and Izumo went along with Rin and Yukio as they went to check on Paku.   
  
Yukio acted like a real doctor as he took the girl's pulse and temperature. "You're recovering quickly. Your pulse should be back to normal by tomorrow and then you will be free to go," Yukio said with his professional but still cheerful attitude.   
  
"Thanks," Paku responded. She still sounded and looked rather weak after the attack. But she was still alive, and was getting better every minute. There was a patch on one of her cheeks and on her right arm where the ghoul's fluids had touched her skin directly.   
  
Izumo felt sick looking at it all, believe it was all her fault.   
  
"You hang in there," Rin said cheerfully before getting up to follow his brother out. Danny nodded at the girl and left as well so that the two friends could be left alone.   
  
Izumo was quiet for a few seconds so Paku spoke first. "Rin is really nice huh. And he's kind of cute too, don't you think?" Paku said and watched her friend over react.   
  
"Wha!? What are you talking about?" Izumo said, blushing bright red.   
  
"Mr. Okumura is pretty cool too. It’s hard to believe they are twins. They are nothing alike," Paku joked. "Danny isn't as outgoing as Rin is, but he's pretty cute too."   
  
Izumo's blush was starting to be pushed down again. "Hey Paku, I'm..." Izumo started. She wanted to apologize. She wanted to say that everything was her fault. But Paku spoke up before she could.   
  
"Izumo... I've thought about it. And I'm quitting the cram school," Paku said, only hesitating for a moment.   
  
Izumo was shocked as she lowered her head. "I'm sorry..." She whispered.   
  
"Huh? What for?" Paku asked confused.   
  
"I'm sorry I'm not a better person," Izumo said, holding back tears.   
  
Paku smiled and shook her head. "That isn't it at all. I just realized that it just wasn't for me. It isn't your fault at all," She said with a sad smile. "I like you just the way you are."


	10. Chapter 10

The majority of demons have lethal passages known as Fatal Verses," The plump French woman who taught the Aria class reminded them all for the hundredth time. "Specific words or phrases that will unfailingly cause their death. Arias are professionals who... bla bla bla."   
  
Danny wasn't able to pay attention any longer. It wasn't like that was a very good description of a Fatal Verse anyways. A Fatal Verse only disrupted the connection a demon had with its host, causing it to be sent back to Gehenna. Though that was as good as death for any apparition, since it was the combined ideas of the people that hosted them, stripping them of those would be as good as killing them, removing their memories and purpose away from them. Luckily ghosts did not have Fatal Verses.   
  
The only true way to destroy a demon for good was by either killing it inside of Gehenna, or pulling it into its vessel completely before destroying its vessel. Though if you then fail to kill its vessel then you have one powerful demon running around.   
  
So Danny's mind begin to wander back towards the topic of who had summoned the demon the night before. He personally believed that it was the Tamer teacher, but he didn't exactly have any proof of foul play, so he couldn't call the guy out.   
  
He quickly realize that Mephisto had not drive at all to find this person. And knew that his sister and the rest of the cram school students could still be in danger. Jazz wholeheartedly agreed with him. But they would need to catch whoever was doing it in the act.   
  
Izumo was having her own problems concentrating. She would never admit it, but the attack the night before had shaken her greatly, and she was scared about her inability to control her familiars. She was so distracted, she didn't even hear as the teacher called on her.   
  
"Ms. Kamiki!? Ms. Kamiki, is something the matter?" The teacher asked in her heavy French accent. The woman's ridiculous feathered hat nearly fell from her head as she tilted it.   
  
"I...I'm sorry. Um..." Izumo said awkwardly as she got to her feet.   
  
"The Te Deum, dear, from your homework," The teacher pressed.   
  
"Right," Izumo said and took a long breath, trying to think back to the words. "Day by day we bless Thee. And we praise Thy name... Praise thy name forever... and world... and world..." She started to repeat herself as she tried to remember the words, but the girl was starting to come up blank.   
  
"What's wrong dear?" The teacher asked.   
  
"I... I forgot it..." Izumo said feeling humiliated.   
  
"Oh my, Ms. Kamiki, I must say this isn't like you!" The teacher said, seeming a little to surprised. "All right, Mr. Fenton, will you take over?"   
  
Danny broke out laughing for a few seconds as everyone hit their heads on the table since he was the worst person to ask. "Alright. God is good, god is great. Let me think him for our food..."   
  
"Never mind!" The teacher shouted angrily. She was still hoping beyond hope that she could convince either Danny or Rin to take her class seriously. But Rin was not very good at memorizing things and Danny couldn't care less. Any demon weak enough to have a Fatal Verse was as dangerous to him as a stray cat. Something to simply slap aside if it didn't just run away from him.   
  
Some of the more advance binding and barrier incantations interested him, but the class wasn't going over those, and he wasn't all that great at studying by himself. It wasn't that either him or Rin were stupid, they just got distracted easily and enjoyed goofing off.   
  
"Alright, Mr. Suguro. Can you recite the Te Deum lines for us?" The teacher asked once she had regained her composure.   
  
"Yes ma'am," Bon said standing up. Danny tried to remember the guy’s last name for future reference, but 'Bon' was just easier, and the other name was swept away from him. "Day by day we bless Thee. And we praise Thy name forever: and world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord, this day: to keep us without sin. Have mercy on us, O Lord: have mercy on us. O Lord, in Thee have I hoped: let me never be confounded." Bon recited the whole thing without missing a beat.   
  
"That was perfect, Mr. Suguro!" The teacher said in praise as some of the students called in awe. The bell rang, marking the end of class and the teacher quickly left after giving them their homework.   
  
"Amazing, that was incredible," Shiemi said, congratulating Bon.   
  
"Easy now, don't fall for me," Bon said, being a bit of a bragger.   
  
"Wow, you really are smart!" Rin said, sounding a little surprised.   
  
"What do you mean, 'really'!?" Bon said getting a bit angry that he was doubted before.   
  
"It isn't that Bon's smart, he's just really good at memorizing things," Konekomaru explained.   
  
"In other words, I am smart. Isn't that right, Konekomaru?" Bon said looking at the boy with a half smile half blood thirsty glare.   
  
"Oh, yeah..." Konekomaru laughed causing Jazz to start to giggle a bit at the spectacle.   
  
"But anyone can just memorize something," Izumo said from the other side of the room, getting annoyed by the boy's boasting. She hated the guy.   
  
"What? Did you say something!?" Bon shouted at her, angry that she would just blow him off.   
  
"Bon..." Konekomaru worried, hoping to stop him, but it was no good, Bon always spoke his mind.   
  
"This coming from someone who can't even memorize four lines," Bon jabbed with a smug grin.   
  
"I...it's not that I can't memorize it! I just choose not to!" Izumo snapped back as she stood up defensively. "Arias are completely defenseless while they're reciting, so they have to be protected by their party. They're nothing but a burden!" Izumo said with a condescending smile as she moved to the front of the classroom.   
  
"What the hell did you say!?" Bon growled, gritting his teeth. "You know we want to be Arias and you insult us like that!?" Bon shouted as he got up and started to walk towards her, ignoring his friends who were telling him to stop.   
  
"Oh I'm so scared. What, are you doing to hit me?" Izumo asked putting her hands on her hips as Bon walked straight up to her.   
  
"I always knew you were trouble! Making fun of people's dream like that!" Bon said slamming his hand down on the desk next to them, which just happened to be next where Rin was sitting, freaking the demon boy out of his attempts to read.   
  
"Oh, you mean that whole 'I'm going to defeat Satan' thing?" Izumo said with a shrug. "Well I don't know about you, but when I hear a joke like that, I laugh."   
  
"Yeah? Then what about you?" Bon said stopping Izumo's laughter. "Why are you trying to become an exorcist then, huh!?"   
  
"Why... am... I?" Izumo mumbled as the memories came back to her and she had to suppress a shiver. "I've never told anyone else why I do what I do. Because I'm not just trying to show off like you do!" She spat angrily as she tried to push back her memories.   
  
Bon's eyes widened at the insult and gritted his teeth as he reached out and grabbed her collar. "Why you!" He shouted as he pulled her up off of her feet.   
  
Izumo tried to hit at him to make him let go, but her arms were not long enough. But another hand came in and grabbed onto Bon's arms. "Let it go, Bon." A steady voice said from behind the boy. He turned his head to see Danny standing there with a death grip on his hand.   
  
"Stay out of this, Fenton!" Bon snapped, now ever Rin was trying to stop things.   
  
"Just put her down and back off, or I'll break your arm," Danny said, continuing to using a voice that was calm as ice as he started to apply more pressure on Bon's arm until the older boy couldn't feel his hand anymore. Bon squinted in pain but he was too stubborn to let go.   
  
Tension was raising in the room until Yukio got everyone's attention. "Alright, that's enough!" The young teacher shouted as he entered the room. His eyebrow was twitching with irritation. "What do you idiots think you're doing?"   
  
He was going to have to punish them for this.


	11. Chapter 11

"Wh...What the hell's up with this rock?" Rin groaned as he sat with a large stone in his lap in one of the empty studying rooms back at the dorm. It was all part of Yukio's punishment for them, each of the students was sitting with one of the rocks on their laps, with varying levels of stress. "It's just keeps getting heavier and heavier!"   
  
"It's another low-level demon. The longer you hold it... the heavier it gets," Konekomaru squeaked.   
  
"You don't even know what a Bariyon is? You really are an idiot!" Bon said, glaring at the Satan's spawn.   
  
"Don't gimme that! It isn't like Danny knows what it was either," Rin said, all of the others looked to Danny, sitting on the other side of Bon, between the punk monk and his sister. He seemed peaceful sitting there with his eyes closed, as if the Bariyon was nothing.   
  
"What!? Why is your Bariyon not hurting you!?" Bon demanded.   
  
"I'm simple meditating. Picturing myself in a better place. Like that I'm slowly freezing to death in a blizzard, rather than sitting here next to you," Danny said with a half smile. Bon bared his teeth at the ghost boy, but Danny didn't care. He was thinking about other things. Like what had happened back in the classroom.   
  
Even though he was part spirit type demon, his ice core gave him several property of a water type demon, including breathing underwater, an immunity to the cold, and a certain level of empathy.   
  
When Izumo was asked about her motivations, Danny picked up a lot of despair coming from her. And he felt compelled to move in and stop Bon. But knowing the mechanics of it wasn't making it any easier to understand why he did it in the first place.   
  
Bon had been retaliating but Danny hadn't been listening, not until Yukio spoke up. "That's enough! The objective of this boot camp is not only to 'bolster your academic skills,' but also for you to 'cultivate friendship.'"   
  
"I'd rather die than get chummy with these jerks!" Izumo said to Bon's great annoyance.   
  
"Begin friends with them would probably just get me killed," Danny mumbled. He had learned the hard way never to trust a demon hunter. Even if you thought they were your friend. The heartbreak was almost more than he could bare sometimes.   
  
"I'm afraid you're going to have to learn to get along!" Yukio said in an ordering voice. "An exorcist cannot go into battle alone! To maximize each other's skills, compensate for shortcomings, exorcists fighting in parties of two or more is just basic procedure! In actual combat, this in fighting would get you all killed!" Yukio lectured them all. But Danny couldn't help but think that it didn't really appeal to people like him and Rin who couldn't fight to their fullest will other people were watching. They could work with each other and Jazz, but that was it. That was all he could trust.   
  
"Alright, I'll be gone for about three hours on a minor assignment. However, due to the incident with the ghoul yesterday, I'm taking extra precautions and locking all of the dorm's entrances and placing a powerful demon-warding charm over the building," Yukio declared.   
  
"Locked? But then how are we supposed to get out of here?" Bon asked.   
  
"There's no need to leave," Yukio said. "I'll be back in three hours. Until then, I want you all to get along and cool off." He said and turned to go to the door. But before he left he turned to the group. "Almost forgot. Mr. Fenton, I want you to come with me. I've finished decontaminating your spear and need to return it to you." He said. Danny got up and followed him out the door.   
  
"Three hours?.. He's a demon..." Renzo said, crying under the weight of the demon stone.   
  
"Demons aren't that evil," Jazz said, trying to clear her mind to get away from the pain, but she wasn't as good at it as Danny was.   
  
"Are you sure that you two are really related?" Bon asked Rin.   
  
"H...he really is a good person... deep down... I'm sure he is..." Rin said, trying to defend his brother's evil.   
  
Bon looked over at Rin and saw Izumo sitting on the other side of the boy. He stuck up his nose and turned his head away. "Well, we all know how got us into this mess!" He said loudly.   
  
"What was that? You're the one who grabbed me by the collar!" Izumo counted.   
  
"It was you who was picking a fight in the first place!" Bon shouted back.   
  
"Hey! Stop fighting with me in the middle!" Rin shouted angrily.   
  
"Geez, you really are one twisted witch," Bon said, glaring at the girl.   
  
"How nice of you to notice. Anything else you would like to add," Izumo said, keeping up her smug persona.   
  
"With an attitude like that, it's no wonder you're all alone," Bon hissed. Izumo looked as if she had been slapped and shut her mouth.   
  
But before Izumo could think of a comeback, Bon shouted in pain as Jazz grabbed him by one of his ears and pulled him to his feet, causing his rock to land on his foot. "That's it Bon, we are having a talk!" Jazz said as she pulled the boy out the door. Bon was trying not to put weight on his injured foot and trying to keep her from ripping out one if his earring as he moved behind her as fast as he could.   
  
"You know. I think I'm glad I'm still here with the rock in my lap," Rin said knowingly as the door slammed behind them.   
  


* * *

 

 

"Bon, you shallow, insensitive, stuck up moron!" Jazz said in a loud hiss, still not letting go of the boy's ear. "You're thick headedness has gone too far this time. Now I want you to apologize to Izumo right now!"   
  
"Hey, what are you yelling at me for! She started it!" Bon shouted. "She's even worse than usual! Acting like she's all that and making fun of us and laughing at out dreams!"   
  
"Have you ever looked in a mirror. You insult Rin and Danny all the time. You are one of the most stuck up people I have ever met," Jazz said angrily, but she finally let go of Bon's ear. "But have you taken three seconds to consider why she is the way she is? Have you even tried to be understanding? My guess is that she was born being able to see demons and didn't have any friends because of it. She didn't know any other children from shrines like you did. If I took away Konekomaru and Renzo, you would be all alone. Because who would want to hang out with an insensitive suck up jerk like you. And Rin doesn't count."   
  
Bon was to shocked to speak. Jazz hadn't even been anything but overly polite, but now she was on a rampage against him. "Yesterday she was attacked by a demon and her only friend was injured and then you insult her the way you did. Do you know how much damage your words could have had? She is probably scared out of her mind about being alone and you insult her about it," Jazz said, pushing a finger into Bon's chest. "Now you will apologize!"   
  
Bon swallowed but he was still stubborn. "I'm not going to apologize to an ice queen like her," He grumbled.   
  
Jazz glared, but fourteen years of being an older sister had taught her how to deal with rebellious boys. And Bon was not going to get away. She took a deep breath and continued to lecture him. He would break. They always do.   
  


* * *

 

  
"Here you are," Yukio said, handing Danny back his spear. "Now you get back to the others right away." He said, before turning and making for the door.   
  
"You're using us as bait, aren't you?" Danny said flatly. Yukio stopped, the infinity key half way into the door. "You know as well as I do that it was an exorcist that was behind that attack. A demon warding seal would have no effect on them and they can just summon their demons once they are through the barrier."   
  
"Perhaps, but I assure you that everything is safe," Yukio said, pulling the key away from the door and just turning the knob normally, so that he stayed in the building. "Don't worry. We'll make sure that the class is safe. You just do what you do."   
  
"I'm not a demon hunter," Danny said angrily.   
  
"I never said you were," He replied, "But you are a ghost. Being territorial is in your nature." So Yukio walked out, closing the door behind him.   
  
Danny sighed and started to walk back towards the room where the other students were, with his spear over one shoulder. But he stopped when he noticed a presence right outside and smelt rot in the air. Looking out the window he saw a Naberious hound running into the forest that bordered the dorm on all sides.   
  
Danny could sense dozens of other demons in the forest, just out of sight. "Trying to lure me away, are you?" Danny mumbled as he spun his spear around. He knew it was a trap. He tried to resist it. But there was something inside of him that made him want to go. That thirst for the battle that he could sense just beyond those trees. To test himself against the demons that this summoner was foolhardy enough to think could best him. To teach the summoner a lesson about targeting the people close to him.   
  
Danny opened the window and jumped down the two stories to the ground, landing lightly on his feet and started running off in the direction his sixth sense told him the demons were in. In the end, he couldn't help it. He was a ghost.   
  
He didn't notice Mephisto sitting on the roof of the dorm, cloaking his presence. The Demon King smiled down as he watched the boy running into the forest. "Let the testing begin."


	12. Chapter 12

"So, you all think you have lured me far enough away now," Danny said with a wicked grin as he stood in the middle of a small clearing, about a mile away from civilization in any direction. Around thirty rot type demons of varying class and species moved around in the shadows of the trees surrounding the clearing. "How considerate of you to bring me somewhere where I won't have to hold back."   
  
A ring of white light appeared around Danny's waist and power rushed into him as the ring connected him to his demon heart, pumping him full of his demonic strength. His ears became a bit more pointy and his eyes changed from icy blue to a venomous green. The color drained out of his hair, until it was a pure white that seemed to shine in the light of the moon. A trail of vapor seemed to come out of his pants becoming denser until it resembled a fox tail made of silver dust.   
  
Two zombie dogs rushed out of the woods towards him, quickly followed by a strange creature that looked like the cross between a bird and a bat with leathery wings, a feathered head, a metal beak, and three metal talons coming out from under it.   
  
Danny swept his spear low to take out the dogs and pulled out a gun with his left hand and fired a round through the bird like creature's right wing, causing it to fall towards him before he sliced it in half.   
  
Danny sensed something large approaching him from behind and took to the air just in time for a large bull that looked as if it was made of mushrooms and other fungi to charge underneath him. With every step the bull took, flakes of yellow powder fell off of it and began to grow poisonous mushrooms wherever they made contact.   
  
The bull stopped and looked up at Danny, giving a loud groan before shaking its body, causing a cloud of the spores to expand out from it. Danny charged up his power onto his spear and swung it out, blowing a path through the spores. Then Danny shifted himself around and kicked off the air to shot himself like a dart down at the bull, his eyes change from green to a whitish blue as he drove his spear into the rotting mass. Ice quickly spread across it and froze the demon in place until Danny shot a ghost beam channeled through his gun, shattering the demon into pieces. Danny spun his spear and placed it back over his shoulder as he turned to the next wave of demons. "Who's next?" He said with a toothy grin that showed teeth that were a little sharper than usual, his voice carrying a echo of power in it.   
  
Two large ghouls and three giant toads made of mud, as well as a forty foot serpent that's flesh was falling off of its bones moved forward out of the trees, each preparing to strike. Danny grinned, his demon blood singing in his veins. He would take pleasure burying these demons all over again.   
  


* * *

 

 

"They've sure been out in the hallway for a while. You sure we shouldn't check on them?" Renzo asked, seeming a little worried.   
  
"Trust me man, you don't want to be around Jazz when she's having one of her moments," Rin said, lowering his chin down onto his Bariyon stone. The relief of not being the one to earn Jazz's wrath was making it a lot easier to deal with the heavy stone on his lap.   
  
But then the door did open, and Bon stumbled in looking as if he was hit by a runaway train. He walked, half slouched towards Izumo and stopped in front of her. "What do you want now? Going to grab me again?" Izumo said.   
  
"I am sorry for everything, Ms. Kamiki," Bon said in a winded voice. The group looked shocked at him as he added. "I was not thinking and I am an idiot. Please forgive me."   
  
"Um... sure," Izumo said, a little crept out by the void look in Bon's eyes.   
  
Bon half bowed to her and went back to the spot where he had been sitting before he had left. Then he laid down on his back, picked up the Bariyon, and placed it on his stomach. "I must not be such a horrible person. I must not be such a horrible person. I must not..." He repeated over and over again.   
  
"Bon?.. Bon!.. Snap out of it!" Konekomaru shouted, shaking his friend's shoulder. Bon looked at him but didn't see him, his eyes were spinning around like windmills as he gave them all a look that clearly said that no one was home.   
  
"Hopefully the message will stick. I'd hate to have to do it all over again," Jazz said as she entered the room and went back to her spot.   
  
"What did you do to him?" Konekomaru asked, wondering for a second if Jazz might have been a demon.   
  
"I informed him of the full level of consequences to his actions and gave him a good talking to," Jazz said simply. "He needed to be put in line for once in his life."   
  
"Wow, a dominating woman," Renzo said, sounding a little love sick.   
  
"Don't even think about it," Rin growled, baring a little of his teeth at the monk. Even though it had only been a little time since Danny and Jazz showed up, Rin already saw them as family, and even though he didn't know much about the world at large, Renzo was clearly a pervert.   
  
Moments later all the lights went off and some screamed in surprise, jumping up to their feet and letting the Bariyons just fall to the floor. "What gives Okumura, did your brother turn off the lights on his way out too?" Renzo asked.   
  
"No way?" Konekomaru said in a bit of a panic.   
  
"Is it a blackout?" Izumo suggested.   
  
"No, I can still see lights on outside the window," Bon pointed out, having recovered a little from his lecture.   
  
Jazz's eyes widened. "Ghouls are stronger in the dark," She said as she quickly pulled out her phone and pressed the speed dial. "Danny... Danny are you there!" She shouted, but she was only getting nothing, she pulled her phone away from her head and saw that there was no bars. "No signal. This isn't good. Everyone get away from the door!"   
  
"Wha? What are you talking about?" Rin asked confused.   
  
"We're under attack," Jazz stated.   
  
"Jazz, it's just a electrical problem. There's no way a demon could..." Renzo started, but his words turned to a girly scream as the door was smashed off its hinges and the two heads of the ghoul from the night before peered into the room.   
  
Before a second passed, Jazz already had an ectopistol out and was taking shots at the demon, trying her best to keep it back. The ghoul put up two of its four arms in order to block the fire that was coming in on it.   
  
But then the stitches that covered one of the two heads began to shift as the skin was pushed out. With a loud pop the stitches broke and the ghoul spread its fluid all over the room and everyone in it.   
  
"What the hell is this stuff!?" Rin shouted as he looked at the droplets of brown liquid that dotted his shirt.   
  
"It's the ghoul's miasma," Izumo said with a disgusted shutter.   
  
Shiemi was the first of the other students to act. "Nee, I need you to make me some Una-una," She said to her familiar. The baby green man nodded and jumped into the air in front of the group and a large tree sprang out from its stomach, impaling the ghoul in the center of its chest and nailing it to the far wall. The other students were shocked that something so big could come from something so little. The tree branches created an entire barricade between them and the ghoul. "Thank you, Nee," Shiemi said, congratulating her familiar.   
  
"Good job, Shiemi. You really saved us," Rin said as he walked up to the barricade. But then he looked through and saw that the ghoul was splitting itself in half. The half with the newly unveiled head started to regrow the lost limbs and began to try to smash the barricade.   
  
"It's trying to get through!" Izumo cried out.   
  
"Dammit," Rin swore under his breath. "For supposedly being dead, you're pretty lively!"   
  
"Ghouls are stronger in the dark," Bon said, just like Jazz had earlier.   
  
"Anyways, we're safe for now. We just have to wait for Yukio and Danny to get here and we... *cough* *cough*" Jazz couldn't finish her sentence as a fit of coughing overtook her. The other all began coughing as well. Only Rin seemed unaffected.   
  
"What's wrong with everyone?" He asked concerned as he went to check on Shiemi.   
  
"It's because we got sprayed with the ghoul's miasma," Izumo said looking over at Rin through her coughs. "Doesn't it bother you at all?"   
  
"Well uh..." Rin said but he was coming up blank for a response. "Yukio, where the hell are you."   
  
"Once Shiemi loses all her strength, this barricade with disappear. We'll be sitting ducks," Bon said, looking down at the girl and her familiar.   
  
Rin looked around and then at the barrier. He knew what he had to do. He walked up to it and began to climb through the holes in the branches.   
  
"What are you doing?" Bon said.   
  
"I'm gonna head outside and draw the ghoul away. Then you can all escape when it tries to follow me," Rin explained.   
  
"What! Are you crazy!?" Bon shouted.   
  
"Rin, don't do it, we can just hold out here!" Jazz shouted at him but he was too far away for her to stop him.   
  
"Don't worry about me. I'm pretty strong you know!" Rin shouted back as he moved past the halfway point in the branches. Rin kept moving, ignoring all the others attempts to call him back. After he was through and by the door the demon finally noticed him. "I'm the one you bastards are after, right? Then come and get me!" He shouted before running out the door, the ghoul hot on his heels.   
  
"Rin..." Jazz mumbled a little worried. She didn't know how strong Rin really was. She knew that there was demon blood in him, but that didn't mean he was stronger than this demon.   
  
"I... I don't believe that guy..." Bon said in shock.   
  
"Let's just get out of here," Renzo said quickly. "Shiemi, you can let down the..."   
  
"No," Jazz said quickly. "There were two halves to that ghoul. Just listen." They all went quiet and moments later the second half of the ghoul lunged up and smashed itself against the barricade, trying to tear through it. They were all still trapped.   
  


* * *

 

  
In the hallway Rin was trying to outrun the demon that was on his tail. "I just need to get to the lights," He kept telling himself. "If I can turn them on, that ghoul should lose power. So just hold on everyone. It's time I put my powers to good use."


	13. Chapter 13

Danny carved yet another of the malformed corpses into pieces as the number of his enemies was cut from three down to just two.   
  
A demon that looked like a mound of tar given a unstable human like shape stumbled forwards, a large black wasp nest growing out of its back. With a gurgling cry it unleashed a large horde of steel gray insects that flew towards Danny. Their metallic wings producing a high pitch whine as they moved through the air. The sound alone would have been enough to paralyze most, but it had nothing on Danny's ghostly wail, and the boy charged up his energy till his body glowed bright green and sent it through the air as an electric current, frying the insects as if he was a human bug zapper.   
  
After the insects were gone he lifted his gun and shot a bullet through the hives, destroying the source demon and reducing it to black ash. "And then there the was one." Danny said as he moved out of the away of a large bear like creature.   
  
It was the size of a medium sized truck and was covered in rotting fur. It had two eyes on one side of it head but only one on the other, and its jaw seemed a little crooked in its mouth. But just underneath the rotting fur was what appeared to be a layer of metal coating, as if the bear had been infused with armor in some kind of twisted experiment.   
  
It came at him again, swinging around a paw with nails the size of butcher knifes in an attempt to tear Danny's head off, but the ghost boy phased into the ground and out of sight.   
  
The bear looked back and forth until Danny resurfaced and lifted his gun shooting two shots at the creature. However, the armor around the bear prevented the bullets from reaching its demon's heart where the sacred soil would be able to do some damage.   
  
Danny lowered the gun, not wanting to waste any more of the lifeline bullets, he had only managed to snag one clip worth and he had already used nine of his twelve shots. The bear turned to him and began to charge again, its jaw falling completely open as he got closer.   
  
Danny jumped over the swing of one of the huge arms and grabbed onto one of the barely attached ears of the demon, letting it pull him along as he rode on its head. Then he pulled a holy water grenade from his belt and triggered it before dropping it into the demon’s mouth and pushing himself off of the creature's back right in time for the grenade to go off. The creature screamed as steam came from its mouth until its fur exploded off of it and a beaten up old truck fell to the ground.   
  
"I'm done with your stupid patchwork dolls! Now are you going to show yourself or not!" Danny shouted scanning the trees from any sight of the summoner. Something in his gut told him that the guy was watching. And in this instance, his gut was right.   
  
"He who bathes in the blood of a thousand demons shall become a demon himself." A deep voice echoed through the clearing. Danny turned to its source to see the the Tamer teacher standing there in his black exorcist coat, staring at Danny with a look of absolute hatred from his one good eye. "I always thought those words were just another one of those sayings that the Chinese exorcists made up to say that you would be careful you don't give in to evil as you hurt it. But you make me believe that those words were meant to be taken more literally. You are a human child who didn't just become possessed by a demon, you actually became one, even if only half way." The man spat. "Even if you are only half filth, you are still filth. I will not allow any demon to walk free. And I will punish anyone who shelters them."   
  
"Doesn't that seem like a pretty hypocritical thing to say when you are a tamer?" Danny said, glaring at the man. "Not that I really care about your ideology. Now that you've shown yourself, I'm pretty sure you're going to be out of a job there, teach." Danny pointed his spear at the old exorcist.   
  
"I don't think so. You would be surprised by who little Sir Pheles actually cares about his students. You all did sign the waver. He can't be held responsible if you die." Igor Neuhaus said as crossed his arms. "But answer me this, if you are busy fighting here, than who is protecting your sister and classmates?"   
  
Danny's eyes widened but before he could move a giant demonic power surged up and a demon pulled itself from the trees behind Neuhaus. It was a massive ghoul, almost fifty feet tall, it towered of Danny. It had several orbs on top of its body with several limbs growing out from were the necks should be, each one probably signifying one of the bodies that was used to make up the disgusting creature. If that was the case, there must have been a least twenty of them. It had massive gray arms and a long whip like tail with the curved barb end that was characteristic of high level rot demons. Its gut was so massive that Danny couldn't see its feet underneath the layers of fight, but it was still able to cover a good distance by pushing itself off of the ground with its huge arms and throwing itself in the direction it wanted to go.   
  
"I wouldn't go running back if I were you. After all, if you don't take care of this demon first, then who knows how you will ever manage to protect your friends from it, should it get close to the dorm." The teacher said before he was obscured from sight by the demon as it jumped over him to make a lung at Danny.   
  
"Okay, it is official, you are the worst teacher ever!" Danny shouted as he blocked a swing from the demon with his spear, being knocked through several trees by the hit.   
  
Danny pulled himself out of the branches and glared up at the creature. All enjoyment of the fight was gone. He had to put it down, and fast.   


 

* * *

 

The cram school students were starting to get over the shock of demon's attack, and were starting to try to come up with a plan of action.   
  
"We can't just sit here and do nothing." Bon growled as he watched the ghoul smashed down another limb of their defensive barrier and throw it aside. Jazz was continuing to take shots at its eyes, but with only an ectopistol, it was not going to have much of an effect. Especially since they were in the dark. Bon looked over at Shiemi who was doing her best to stay conscious. "I'm going to recite a passage." Bon declared, shocking some of the other students.   
  
"But Bon, you don't even know that thing's Fatal Verse, do you?" Konekomaru asked the bigger monk.   
  
"I don't, but for ghoul type demons they're mainly in the Gospel of John." Bon said, finally using his knowledge from class. "I've got the whole thing memorized. So if I start reciting the whole thing, I should hit it at some point."   
  
"The shotgun approach." Jazz said nodding as she got up and moved to her purse. "Not like we have any better plans right now."   
  
"Wait, you have all of it memorized? But there are like twenty chapters in it!" Renzo said in surprise.   
  
"Twenty-one actually." Konekomaru corrected. The bold monk looked unsure of himself but he added. "It's not much, but I've got chapters one through ten memorized."   
  
"Great. I'm counting on you, Konekomaru!" Bon said gratefully.   
  
"Just hold on a second!" Izumo shouted. "If you start reciting, then the ghoul is just going to focus its attack on you!"   
  
"There's no time to worry about that! This girl is busting her butt trying to protect us! A man can't just stand by and do nothing!" Bon shouted back.   
  
"That's our Bon, always being a man." Renzo said as he opened up his over shirt and pulled out three metal poles, screwing them together to make his k'rik. "I don't have anything memorized, but I do have this. If it breaks through I've got you covered."   
  
"As much as I would love to see you fight a mid level demon in close quarters, how about we start with this instead." Jazz said walking up to him and shoving an unabridged copy of the Gospel of John into his hands.   
  
"What the? Why did you have this with you?" Renzo asked confused as he looked down on it.   
  
"I picked it up after the ghoul got away the first time yesterday. Just in case. Still haven't found the Fatal Verse yet, but it isn't in the first two chapters. I checked that much last night." Jazz said as she walked up to the barricade and pulled something that looked like a stick of dynamite out of her bag. "I suggest you cover your eyes." He said as she pulled the string and tossed it through the branches to the ghoul. There was a pop and a large flash of light and the ghoul screamed in pain. "Hopefully that bought us a little time." Jazz said as she knelt down and started pulling things out of her purse.   
  
"Just how much stuff you got?" Bon asked a little surprised.   
  
"Not as much as I would like. Danny took the graveyard dirt bullets and my ectopistol is out of juice, not that it worked very well anyways. But I still have four more flares, two holy water grenades and a bat." Jazz said, pulling the named items out of her bag, one at a time.   
  
"How did you fight a whole bat in there!" Konekomaru shouted in surprise.   
  
"Family trade secret." Jazz said with a shrug as she fingered the bat in her hand, looking down at the Fenton sticker on it. "I don't think we should use the holy water in here. I have no idea what kind of effect it will have on Nee and if Nee goes then we are sitting ducks. So keep it as a back up." Jazz said handing one of the water grenades and three of the four flares to Izumo.   
  
"What!? Why are you giving it to me!?" Izumo asked shocked.   
  
"I'm going to use this flare, and then while the ghoul is still blinded I'm going to go after Rin." Jazz said smiling a little. "I can't just leave the guy out there alone."   
  
"That's crazy!" Renzo shouted.   
  
"No, it isn't. If the ghoul follows me into the hall I can use the holy water on it and get back to the rest of you will it is still stunned." Jazz said as she got ready. "Now don't you all have some reciting to do? You'd better have that demon gone by the time I get back, or you will all get a talking too." Jazz said sternly.   
  
Bon shuddered. "Yes ma'am."   
  
"Seriously, what did you do to Bon?" Konekomaru said concerned.   
  
"But I..." Izumo started, but Jazz put a hand on the younger girl's head.   
  
"I know you're still a little shaken from the attack yesterday, but you don't have to be scared. We will get through this." Jazz said in a comforting voice. "Just have a little faith."   
  
Izumo was taken aback as the older girl patted her head before turning at prepared the second flare. A moment later the flare was off and Jazz was on the move.   
  
"Don't worry Rin, help is on the way." He said, holding tight to the bat and holy water. Her only two means of defense.   
  


* * *

 

  
Danny was having some trouble putting down the giant Ghoul as it slowly marched towards the dorm building in order to both pressure him into action and draw him away from where its summoning circle must have been.   
  
If Danny could have found that circle, he could send the ghoul back to where it belonged, but without him slowing it down it would be on the others in just a few minutes. He knew that much as he flew up over the forest and could see the building out of the corner of his eye.   
  
"Stay down!" The ghost boy shouted as he dived on the creature, cutting of one of its arms close to the wrist with his spear. But in just moments the exposed flesh began to bubble and tentacles took the place of the hand, flying out and surrounding Danny.   
  
Danny put up a shield of green light around him to stop the coils of rotten flesh from crushing him, and then sent a wave of cold energy out to freeze and shatter them before flying back a few feet to be out of range of the counter attack. All that did him no good, the arm just regrow.   
  
Danny was nearly at the point of cursing as he watched the ghoul prepare for another leap. He needed to get to the others, but he couldn't leave the demon as is. If he was having a hard time now, fighting it without his powers and with the others to worry about would be impossible.   
  
He did a strafing run, raining ectoblasts down on the ghoul's many heads. But that didn't seem to be doing him any good either as the orbs just mended themselves. He touched the gun him his belt and frowned. He had three bullets left. A shot with one of them would be enough to slow down the regeneration process in that area, but only a shot to its core of energy, its demon heart, would be enough to get rid of it completely, and with the large mass of demonic energy the demon was giving off, he was finding locating the heart to be a hopeless task.   
  
Given another time he could wear the thing down and figure out where the weak point was, but time was not on his side. Every moment he wasted was a moment that the crazy teacher could be doing who knows what.   
  
The largest of the orbs broke open and a giant tube like tongue shot out of its mouth and wrapped around a surprised Danny's leg before swinging him around and smashing him into the ground with enough force to leave cracks in the dirt. Danny squinted against the pain but he still managed to hold onto his spear and used it to cut himself free before gaining some distance.   
  
"In a test of speed I'm way out class this sake of flesh, but speed isn't helping." Danny grumbled to himself as he wiped his brow, only for his hand to come off with a bit of blood on if from a cut on his forehead. He then had an idea. He took out a summoning paper and smeared his blood over it. "Come to me, O hound of Hecate! Come to me, for the hunt shall soon begin!" Danny shouted and the bright green flames spilled out of the paper.   
  
Cujo rose up in all his full sized form and roared at the sight of the demon, bounding forward and grabbing on to him. "Cujo!.. Cujo!.. That isn't what I summoned you for!" Danny tried to call out to the Ghost Dog, but it was busy tried to tear the ghoul apart, to the same level of success as Danny's attempts. Only getting himself thrown off, not that the dog seemed to care. "Cujo!.." Danny said, then he took a deep breath and shouted again. "Cujo stop!" The dog froze and turned. "I order you to go back to the dorm and protect the others!"   
  
The hellhound looked hurt as it stared at its master before turning and bounding towards the school. Danny knew all too well what he had just done. He had forced his will upon Cujo, but he needed someone to protect his sister, Rin, everyone. "I'm sorry boy." He said, struggling to keep up his resolve so that the order would not disappear. He turned towards the ghoul and prepared to go back into battle. "I'll be right behind you, boy."


	14. Chapter 14

"Let’s see know, the power grid..." Rin mumbled as he walked into the maintenance room in the basement. He looked along the walk where all the switches and breakers were and saw what he had expected to see. "All the switches are down. So all I got to do is flip them back up and..." Rin started but was stopped when a long tube wrapped around his throat and pulled away from the controls.   
  
Rin reached up and tried to pull it off from around his neck as he glanced over his shoulder to see the ghoul that had been chasing him had finally caught up and that the thing that was choking him was the demon's tongue. "...Disgusting bastard." He groaned before the demon pulled him off his feet and throw him against a nearby wall with a loud smacking sound that echoed in the large room.   
  
Before Rin could get up the demon was on him, grabbing his head and holding him against the wall. "I am sorry... I only do... as my master commands me to." The ghoul moaned.   
  
Rin gasped as the air was knocked out of him, but that didn't stop him from trying to reach for his sword. He knew that if he drew his sword, then he would have the power to win.   
  
But that plan was put on hold when a familiar voice rang through the room. "Get off of him!" Jazz shouted before swinging a bat hard enough to crack bones into the side of the demon's head, knocking it off of Rin.   
  
Rin coughed a little before looking up at the red haired Fenton girl standing next to him with a baseball bat with the word Fenton written on the side. She looked a little nervous as she watched the demon getting back up. "Jazz... get out of here." Rin whizzed as he pulled himself to his feet.   
  
"No, I'm not going to leave you alone to fight this thing. We'll do it together!" Jazz said stubbornly. "I'm not going to abandon you."   
  
"Jazz..." Rin said a little surprised but he was jogged back to reality when laughter filled the room.   
  
"You will not abandon him? You truly are a witch, aren't you? Keeping the company of demons and scum." Rin's head snapped to the back exit to the room that led to the outside of the building only to see the teacher from the Tamer class standing in the doorway.   
  
"You, what are you doing here?" Rin asked surprised again.   
  
Jazz glared at the teacher, tightening her grip on his bat. "Isn't it obvious, he's the one who summoned the demon." Jazz said angrily.   
  
Rin's eyes widened and he bared his teeth as everything clicked into place. "You were behind the attacks! You’re the reason Paku got hurt!" Neuhaus just grinned at the demon boy's shouts. "You bastard! Why!?"   
  
"Why? Because I hate demons." Neuhaus said in his deep flat tones. "And so I will destroy any demon I come across and any who would call them 'friends'." Rin growled a bit and grabbed hold of his sword's hilt. "Oh, are you going to draw your sword in front of this girl?" Neuhaus said, almost laughing. "Do you really think that even someone like her could stand by after finding out what you are?"   
  
Rin froze at those words. Sure Jazz knew that he had some demon blood in him. But she didn't know that he was the son of Satan. Just like how the Order would allow part demons but would never accept him, would Jazz also reject him if she found out the truth of his parentage?   
  
"Rin, don't listen to him. He's just trying to distract you." Jazz said quickly.   
  
"Well, I know one way to solve your dilemma. Ghoul, kill the girl!" Neuhaus ordered.   
  
"No!" Rin shouted as he jumped in front of Jazz, using his sheathed sword as a shield to try to hold off the ghoul's attack. But the demon used its long arms to reach around and grab onto Rin's shirt before throwing him aside.   
  
The Ghoul moved to crush Jazz but the girl sung an uncapped holy water grenade and splashed the blessed liquid over the demon's face. It gave a hollow of pain and reared back onto its hind legs and started batting at the air around it trying to find Jazz as it attempted to wipe the liquid from its eyes. But the demon still managed to land a hit, knocking Jazz to the side and against the wall where she slide to the ground screaming as she felt her left arm snap.   
  
The demon started to regain its sight as its regenerative abilities repaired its eye. Rin pulled himself off the ground to see the demon moving for the injured girl. His heart stopped as her crying filled his ears. Jazz had been hurt, and he hadn't been able to protect her. He felt his anger rising as he grabbed onto the hilt of his sword.   
  
Jazz was blinking back the tears as she tried to push herself away from the ghoul, one arm held limp and useless at her side. She looked up to see the demon towering over her with two of its four arms raised, preparing to crush her.   
  
But before it could bring the arm down she heard a shout. "Get away from her!" Rin roared and the tip of a blade pushed out from the demon's chest. The demon wailed with pain as bright blue flames erupted over its body, it clawed feebly at the air around it as its flush burned until there was nothing left and it faded away, nothing but a pile of dust and ash.   
  
Jazz was stunned as she looked up at the demon that now stood over her. Rin's ears had both grown out another four inches and his pupils had turned from black to a dark red. His teeth were sharper than ever and he was covered from head to the tip of his tail in bright blue flames. Two horns had appeared on his forehead over his hair, make completely from the azure flames.   
  
Jazz had only hear about them for stories, but it was obvious what they were. "Rin... you're..." She couldn't finish her words. Rin Okumura was the son of Satan.   
  
Rin winced at her voice and turned his head away, closing his eyes tight. He didn't want to see her expression. He was to afraid to look into her face and see fear or hatred or disgust. For her to see him and the monstrous demon, the son of Satan, a beast that should be put down. The fear of her reaction was hundred times worse that the fear of any demon. He had shown himself, and now the Vatican would find out and he would be put to death. Yukio had warned him so many times not to let anyone see his flames, but he had failed to listen. "I'm sorry Yukio. I guess I just can't watch a friend get hurt." He said a silent pray to his little brother.   
  
But all his fear turn to surprise when he felt someone patting his head. He opened his eyes to see Jazz standing up and looking at him with a understanding expression will moving her uninjured right hand through his hair.   
  
"It's alright, Rin. No matter what you are, you are still you." She said in a motherly voice.   
  
Rin had to bite down on his tongue to stop himself from crying. Real men didn't cry. Not in times like this. But he did manage to squeeze out a few words. "Thank you." He said, barely more than a whisper.   
  
"Alright, now we need to get these lights back on and get back to the others." Jazz said in a commanding voice. "Rin, I need to you reset all the..." Jazz started to instruct him on how to turn back on all the power and Rin did everything she said.   
  
Rin was so relieved that he found it hard to concentrate on the matter at hand. Jazz had not been afraid of him. She wouldn't turn on him, just like his dad and the rest of the guys back at the church he grew up in, none of it matter to her. She was family.   
  
Maybe having an older sister wouldn't be that bad.   


 

* * *

 

 

It had been a while since Jazz had left to go after Rin, but the other students hadn't yet found the demon's Fatal Verse. Both Konekomaru and Renzo had reached the ends of their assigned sections of the Gospel of John and Bon was half way through the final chapter of the Gospel.   
  
"Oh no, it’s almost through!" Renzo shouted as the ghoul pushed one arm all the way through the branches of their wooden barricade to paw at them. They had already used their flash grenades and Izumo was holding onto the holy water with an iron grip, ready to throw it the moment the ghoul got through.   
  
"Bon's almost finished, we just need a bit more time." Konekomaru said as he looked over to his friend who was deep in concentration, reciting the words from memory as he sat with his legs crossed and his brow thoroughed.   
  
But no sooner had Konekomaru said these words than he heard a thud and turned to see Shiemi had fell to the ground and her familiar had disappeared. "Oh no!" Konekomaru said as the barrier went down and the ghoul came right at them.   
  
Renzo tried to hold it off with his k'rik but the demon just grabbed it and tossed him aside, moving in on the monk who was still chanting.   
  
Izumo tossed the holy water grenade and it exploded in a mist that covered the demon, causing it to scream and back way as its skin began to burn and fluid poured out from holes that appeared near the stitches.   
  
But that wasn't enough. Not in the darkness of the room. Not without them hitting its demon heart. The beast pushed itself up as it started to recover from the hit.   
  
Izumo went over to Shiemi. "Hey, you... you've got to hang in there!" Izumo said in a panic. Everything was just too much for her.   
  
"Izumo?" Shiemi said looking up at her with tired eyes. "You're... not your usual self today. Are you okay?"   
  
"Am I..." Izumo's eyes widened at the words. She had always thought that Shiemi had been weak and useless, but the girl was worried about her, even as the demon was descending upon them. Shiemi still was paralyzed by fear, neither had Jazz. But Izumo had been.   
  
The proud black haired girl bit his lip in frustration, hard enough to draw blood. Why was she so afraid. She was not going to be shown up. Not any more.   
  
She pulled two of the summoning papers out of her pocket and using the blood from her lip she began her summonings. "I humbly appeal to the oh goddess of Inari. I entreat you not to leave my prayers unfulfilled!" She shouted.   
  
Her twin fox familiars appeared from the slits of paper, both staring at her with angry eyes. "Girl, how dare you try to su..." One started but she cut it off.   
  
"You will obey me!" Izumo shouted angrily and the foxes shuddered as they were bound to her will.   
  
"Curses, she has snapped out of it." One of them grumbled.   
  
Izumo knew that she had a twisted personality, and she was afraid that it would land her all alone. But she wasn't going to let that fear control her, not anymore. "Utter these words and shiver. And should it sway and quiver, then even the dead shall come back to life! The Tamayura Exorcism!" She chanted the prayer to bring out her familiars power and the two foxes moved forward, twisting around the ghoul and realizing petals of light to bind the ghoul and hold it still.   
  
"Yes!" She said in triumph, but it didn't least, the ghoul was to strong for the low level spirits and they were thrown aside as the ghoul swung out its arms. "Oh no!"   
  
The ghoul turned its attention back to Bon who was still reciting, despite all that was happening. "Bon!" Renzo shouted as the ghoul reached out to grab him.   
  
But before its finger could close around the boy's through a massive green form rushed out of one of the walls and smashed into the demon, knocking it away from the children.   
  
Cujo stood tall and his head brushed the roof as he position himself between the class and the ghoul. The ghost dog gave a low growl before bounding forward and onto the rot demon.   
  
"Yay, Cujo's here, we're saved!" Renzo shouted. The ghost dog lifts the ghoul up in its jaws and swung it about, smashing the creature into the ceiling and nearby wall, nearly crushing the children as he rived about. "Oh no! Cujo's here, we're screwed!"   
  
Cujo slammed the demon against the floor and placed his front paws on its waist before going for the demon's throat. The ghoul reached up with its four arms and tried to hold back the hell hound's massive head from ripping it to pieces but the light came on and the ghoul started to lose strength, its elbows buckling as Cujo overwhelmed it.   
  
"This is the disciple who testifieth of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Bon finished his chant and the demon's Lethal Verse was hit.   
  
The ghoul gave a short cry as its body disappeared completely, not even leaving a pill of dirt to show that it had even been there to begin with.   
  
"Good job Bon! Now what's going to keep the dog distracted!" Renzo said backing away from Cujo as the large dog lifted itself from the ground and turned to them. They all gulped as the demon hound took two large steps towards them before turning, flopping down on the ground and facing the door, as if standing guard. They were all took shocked to move when they heard someone running their way and Rin entered the room. "Hey! Where's the other ghoul?" Rin asked to the shock of the others.   
  
"But... what happened to your ghoul?" Bon asked too shocked to move.   
  
"Oh, we killed it. Did you get yours too? That's awesome." Rin said with a goofy and proud grin.   
  
Bon ran up and clothes lined Rin, knocking him to the ground. "What the hell's wrong with you!? Do you want to get killed or something!?" Bon shouted.   
  
"Hey, calm down..." Rin tried to say as Bon started kicking him until a finger grabbed onto one of his ears and pulled him away.   
  
"As much as I appreciate your concern Bon, I think we've had enough violence for now." Jazz said as she pulled him away by the ear. But a second later she flinched from the pain of her broken arm and let go of him to cradle the injury.   
  
"Jazz!? Are you okay!?" Renzo shouted as he went to check on the girl.   
  
"I'll be fine. I think it was a clean break. It'll heal." Jazz said turning to Cujo as the other students were shocked that a broken bone counted as fine. "Cujo, are there any more hostile demons in the area? One bark for yes, two for no." The dog sniffed the air and barked twice. "Then at least we are safe for now.   
  
"Are you alright?" Izumo asked Shiemi as she helped her up into a sitting position.   
  
"Yes... thank you." Shiemi said as she tried to regain her focus.   
  
Izumo looked down. "Listen, I honestly don't like you." Izumo said shocking Shiemi a little. "But you did save us today. So thanks." She added a little embarrassed. Shiemi smiled and nodded.   
  
"What happened here?" Everyone turned to see Yukio standing in the doorway as he looked in on the completely wrecked room with Cujo sitting in the middle of it.   
  
"Hey, Yukio, where have you been!? We had too..." Rin started angrily but his words dropped off as he saw Igor Neuhaus standing right behind Yukio. "Yukio... that man is... our enemy." Rin said seriously.   
  
Then one of the ceiling tiles above him fell open and he was knocked forward onto his face. Turning around he saw Mephisto falling down through the hole in the ceiling, grinning at all of them. "What? Mephisto!?" Rin shouted, more than a little confused as to why the Demon King would be there.   
  
"Well done, my young pages! Thank you for all your hard work!" Mephisto said as he grinned at all of them.   
  
"Is that the headmaster? What is he doing here?" Bon said just as confused as Rin.   
  
"I think I know..." Jazz grumbled with a glare at the Demon King as she connected the dots. "This was all some kind of test, wasn't it?"   
  
"Of course." Mephisto said with a smile. "You don't think I would allow an upper-level demon to just wilts right into my school, do you?" She snapped his fingers and doors and floorboards popped open and several instructors popped out. Rin's jaw went slack as he started to understand. "Instructors with Doctor credentials, kindly tend to the wounded."   
  
The doctor instructors moved forward and went to work. A senior teacher bring some bandages over for Jazz's arm as she started to set the bone.   
  
"No way... don't tell me..." Bon mumbled as he twitched from the tension he had been feeling since the ghoul first attacked.   
  
"Surprise and congratulations for completing your Exwire Exams!" Mephisto shouted proudly.   
  
"But... what about Fenton? He wasn't here for the exam." Konekomaru asked, trying to grasp at straws that could tell him that it was all just a bad dream.   
  
"Oh Danny is taking his only little exam." Mephisto said with a smile. "And if should be ending in... Eins... Zwei... Drei!" The building shook as a horrible noise filled the air, all the students and some of the instructors fell to their knees and clapped their hands over their ears at the horrible sound. Cujo started to bark happily at hearing his master's voice.   
  
"What the hell was that!?" Renzo said as the noise died down, just seconds after it started.   
  
"Was it an Earthquake?" Rin asked as he got up.   
  
"Earthquakes doing make noise like that, dumbass!" Bon shouted at Rin as he tried to clear his head.   
  
"The ghostly wail. It lives up to its reputation." Mephisto said, practically glowing with pleasure. Jazz could only glare. What had they done to make Danny use his ace?


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there's anything I missed while correcting this, feel free to let me know.

Danny let out a little roar as he channeled power through the tip of his spear before grabbing it in both hands and swinging it like a sword over the massive ghoul. The resulting wave of power sliced straight through the rotting flesh, nearly cleaving the demon in half.   
  
But no sooner had Danny jumped back to take stock of his work than the exposed flesh began to bubble and the two sides reached out towards each other. The ghoul was literally pulling itself back together and Danny was running out of breathing room.   
  
The ghost boy looked over his shoulder and swallowed hard. He no longer had to fly up into the sky in order to see the dorm through the trees. In another minute, the ghoul would be on it, and it could crushing it in one go.   
  
He no longer had any time to hold back, he had to pull out all the stops and bring the demon down before it could take another step. Danny positioned himself between the ghoul and the school and dug in his heels. "That's far enough. I won't let you get any closer." Danny said looking up and the demon. It was the size of a double decker bus but that didn't matter. If it moved any closer Danny would rip it to pieces.   
  
The demon gave a bellowing cry and dug in its hands pushing itself into the air and at the ghost boy. "I said. Back. OFF!" Danny's voice broke and waves upon waves of green light existed his mouth as an unearthly noise shook the air. The demon took the wail head on its it was torn to pieces within a matter of seconds, the rotten flesh being ripped apart and scattered throughout the corn of destruction was being created as the soil and even the trees were picked up and thrown to the side as the wail continued.   
  
After a few seconds Danny stopped, he went to one knee taking a moment to regain his breath before his eyes shot up and scanned the wreckage. He spotted exactly what he was looking for. One of the pieces of flesh, no bigger than a beach ball was still pulsating, small coils emerged from it and began feeling for other pieces to hook on to, but Danny walked up to it, stamped one foot on it and lifted up his gun. He shot two rounds down into it, and all the pieces of the ghoul began to disappear and blow away as its demon's heart was exorcised.   
  
Danny put his gun away, turned and began to fly towards where he could sense Cujo inside of the building.   
  
Passing through the walls and into the hallways, he re-summoned the ring of white light and banished his demonic power back away, returning him to his more human form as he ran for the room sensing that there was another demon in there with Cujo as well as two more spirits, most likely the foxes.   
  
Seeing that the door had been smashed off of the frame Danny rolled in with his spear raised. "Jazz, I'm here!" Danny shouted but then his shoulders dropped when he saw all the teachers tending to the students. The demon he had been sensing was standing right in front of him.   
  
"Welcome my young page, I'm so glad you could make it." Mephisto said.   
  
Danny was confused but glad. Everyone was safe, the teacher must have gotten there in time. Danny's eyes scanned the room and two things jumped out at him. Igor Neuhaus was standing there in the middle of the room, looking disinterestedly at Danny with his one good eye. And Jazz was having an arm put into a splint.   
  
"You..." Danny growled before lunging at the Tamer teacher. He moved like a bullet and wind rushed through the room as he thrust his blade out towards the teacher's throat.   
  
But Danny's attack was stopped, only a half an inch away from the man's Adam's apple. Mephisto had a hand grasped tightly around the shaft of the spear, stopping it in its tracks. "I would rather you not kill one of my staff members." Mephisto said, but he still had a cheery smile on his face.   
  
"Staff? This man was responsible for all this! He lured me away so he could have free reign with the others! His demons hurt my sister!" Danny shouted angrily, not taking his eyes off of the teacher who swallowed hard and took a step away from the edge of the blade.   
  
"Under my orders." Mephisto said, throwing Danny for a loop. "Congratulations on completing your Exwire authorization exam."   
  
"That was..." Danny said, realizing how stupid he was. He let the tension in his body drop and Mephisto left go of his spear.   
  
"That's right, now I must be off to read all the reports on who everyone did so that I can determine who passed and who failed." Mephisto said as he walked towards the door, spinning his umbrella around one finger.   
  
"Mephisto." Danny said clearly, getting the Demon King to turn around. Bang! Everyone in the room was shocked as Danny lifted his gun and shot the last bullet. The empty cartridge clattered to the ground at the same time Mephisto's white top hat fell from his head and landed on the floor with a hole shot through it. "If you ever get my sister hurt again, then I will personally hunt you down and end you."   
  
Mephisto looked a little surprised at the clear act of rebellion. But a very demon like grin passed over his face. "Well well, now you're talking like a real exorcist." Mephisto said as he walked up to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder before bending down as whispering in his ear. "Or perhaps, a real demon."   
  
Mephisto straightened up again, taking pressure in the venomous green eyes that were glaring up at him as he turned to walk away. "I almost forgot, I'm going to be calling all of you into my office to disguise your thoughts and feeling that you had during the exam. It will have an impact on how you do. I will trust you not to lie to me." Mephisto said as he exited the room. The teacher began to take all the students down to the nurse's office so that they could have more equipment on hand.   
  
Mephisto personally didn't care about the students thoughts, but it was a good excuse to force the Fenton siblings to speak with him. Because after that performance, they would be gathering the attention of all the spies that were sent to find Satan's son.   
  
Danny was going to be the perfect distraction. Mephisto was using one half demon to hide another. Brilliant if he did say so himself.   
  
Mephisto went to a door and used his infinity key to connect it to his own office. As he opened the door he saw Igor Neuhaus standing in front of his desk waiting for him. "You did well. But that is to be expected of a Senior First Class Exorcist of the True Cross." Mephisto said as he took a seat behind his desk, pulling out a new head and dropping it on his head.   
  
"You're playing with fire, Pheles. These children are more dangerous that most demons." Neuhaus said standing there with his arms crossed. "And they you toy with them, trying to push them over the edge. If I didn't know you better, I would say you’re mad."   
  
"Yes, well, we both know that time is running short." Mephisto said looking over at the instructor. "You know that as well as I do. It’s the only reason you've agreed to help me is it not."   
  
Neuhaus scowled. "Satan and Lucifer. Both of them are preparing to make their moves against Assiah."   
  
Mephisto nodded. "Both my father and elder brother have decided to push for the domination of this world of yours. They are both gathering their armies and obtaining powers to be used to that end. So in order to stop them, we will need weapons of our own. Ones that can match them. Rin Okumura's power is perhaps the only weapon we have against Satan, and Danny Fenton has already proven himself against the King of Spirit."   
  
"You're putting a lot of faith into those rotten children." Neuhaus said scoffing. "Do you honestly think that they can be trusted?"   
  
"I don't know. I'm betting on yes though." Mephisto said, chuckling to himself as he leaned back in his seat. "And I have never lost a bet."   
  
"You're betting on humanity's survival." Neuhaus said angrily. "You're sick."   
  
"Oh don't be like that. I am betting on my own survival as well. Don't forget that there is no love lost between me and the King of Light. Only Rot and Insect have not gotten onto his bad side. Brown nosing worms that they are." Mephisto said, sounding uncharacteristically cross. "If Lucifer has his way, I will be in just as much trouble as the Vatican."   
  
Neuhaus was silent for a second before nodding. "I'm afraid that I am no longer able to test Okumura's power. Fenton destroyed most of my higher ranked demons, and it will be a while before their vessels are reconstructed."   
  
"Yes, I understand. We will need to think of a different way of bringing out Rin Okumura's power." Mephisto said as he curled his beard around one finger. "And I think I have a plan."   
  
Time was moving quicker and quicker, and even the King of Time no long had a full grasp of it. Mephisto smiled to himself remembering the words of many a man who had accepted his bets. This time, it was his own fate that was on the line.   
  
Mephisto couldn't wait. What would the two half demons become? The saviors of Assiah? Powerful Demon Kings? Or simply dead in a ditch. Either way, Mephisto had put in his chips. Now he just had to wait for the Vatican and Lucifer to make their calls, and then hope that the cards were in his favor. "I sure hope they can win. It would be a shame if demons took over Assiah. It wouldn't be nearly as fun."


	16. Chapter 16

"Dammit!" Rin shouted, letting all the tension and frustration run out of him with all of his air. Unfortunately he forgot who was there.   
  
"Don't swear, Rin." Jazz snapped at the boy who immediately shrank down and apologized before sitting down at the edge of Shiemi's bed in the nurse’s office. He was facing towards the bed next to it were Jazz lay with her broken arm, Renzo, Bon, Konekomaru and Danny were all sitting around the space between the two beds. Everyone but Rin and Danny had a drip of the antidote to the ghoul's miasma stuck into their arms.   
  
"That was the worst pop quiz ever." Rin said as he tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.   
  
"They sure got us good." Bon said with a sigh.   
  
"I wish I had known, then maybe I could have been more prepared." Renzo said, a bit depressed.   
  
"Why weren't you all more prepared?" Jazz asked with a raised eyebrow. "We were attacked by the demon once already. What kind of exorcist would not be carrying around a few tools to take down the demon after that?"   
  
"I'll tell you why, it’s because they are idiots." Danny said, rolling his eyes as he sat with Cujo on his lap. He was giving the ghost dog a good scratch behind the ears.   
  
"Hey, cut us some slack." Renzo said as Konekomaru tried to calm Bon down. Though even Bon seemed to tired to be angry.   
  
"I wonder if I passed." Konekomaru said burying his head in his hands.   
  
"Hey don't do that to yourself. There's nothing we can do about it now." Bon said, trying to comfort his friends fears about being graded.   
  
"Easy for you to say. You and Shima will be fine, but me... I was to scared to even move." Konekomaru said in a panic.   
  
"I'm sure you guys will do fine." Izumo said from a small distance away. "Remember what Mr. Okumura said before the exam. That exorcists don't go into battle alone. The whole test was to see if we could work together." Izumo said before pulling her legs in. "I guess in that sense I didn't do so well."   
  
"Hey, don't be so down on yourself. You stepped up. Not like those guys!" Bon said both comforting Izumo and taking a shot at the two other students behind her, the boy in the hoodie who was playing his handheld video game and a boy with a hand puppet. "They did do anything! Well, do you have anything to say for yourselves!?"   
  
"Sweet. I scored a dragon claw." The guy in the hoodie said, seemingly ignoring Bon.   
  
The puppet turned to Bon. "Why don't you just be quiet! We've got nothing to say to whiny little brats like you!" It said though the boy holding it didn't look at them and his lips didn't move.   
  
Bon got really mad, but Rin was to excited. "Wow they said something! They had been a complete mystery since day one, and that one rocks at ventriloquism." Rin shouted, extremely impressed. But then Shiemi began to shift around in bed, woken by Rin's shouts. "Oh shoot, I'm sorry I woke you." Rin said as he calmed down.   
  
"It's okay, I'm fine now." Shiemi said as she sat up in bed. She had exhausted herself keeping up the barrier and had been taking a well deserved nap. "What were you all talking about?"   
  
"We were just talking about the exam." Renzo said simply.   
  
"Yeah, and about how well you did." Konekomaru added.   
  
"Imagine what might've happened if you hadn't been there..." Bon said congratulating the girl.   
  
Danny looked down at Cujo as the rest of them talked. He had not been there. He had allowed himself to be lured away and hadn't been there to protect everyone. His ghostly nature had taken over him and he had gone off to fight. Unable to control himself, like a dog that barks at someone who was just walking around just outside of his fence. Danny felt ashamed of himself.   
  
"Hey Fenton, what was your test like?" Konekomaru asked.   
  
Danny blinked. "Oh uh... they... lured me out into the forest and I... had to hunt them. That’s all." Danny said looking away from everyone there.   
  
"Huh? Hunt them? Could you be any more vague?" Bon said glaring at the ghost boy.   
  
"Not sure, but your you I'll try. How about, 'I had to fight demons'. That vague enough for you?" Danny said with a bit of a grin. It was rather fun to tease the overly serious monk.   
  
"Then, what was that noise?" Konekomaru asked as he gave a worried sideways glance at Bon's twitching eyebrow.   
  
Danny stiffened. "Noise? What noise?" He said nervously.   
  
"You're kidding right? That noise that shook the whole building just before you got back to the room." Renzo said. The pink haired boy shivered at the memory of it.   
  
"Oh that noise. It was um... my familiar?" Danny said. It shouldn't more like a question than a response, as if he wasn't sure that was possible.   
  
"Wow, you had a familiar that is that strong?" Konekomaru asked, more than a little amazed. "Maybe you sure try to be a Tamer." They continued to talk and Danny continued to deflect questions about his test.   
  
Izumo stared at him. She didn't believe that it was a familiar. She didn't believe that he could control a familiar of that level. He could hardly control the ghost dog. So there was no way he could control both at once. It only reinforced her belief that Danny Fenton was a demon, or at least part demon. Though her man question was, 'why was he so secretive about it?'   
  
There were a lot of things that she just didn't understand about the boy. But one thing was certain; he was powerful.   
  
Soon the door opened and Yukio stepped in. "Konekomaru Miwa, the headmaster will see you now." Yukio said as he closed the door behind him before pulling out the infinity keys and connecting the room to the headmaster's office.   
  
Konekomaru swallowed as he got up and walked into the demon's den.   
  


* * *

 

  
"Next." Mephisto said with a sigh. The students that he had seen so far had bored him. Konekomaru and Renzo had both confessed to having been scared and that they were just following Bon's lead. Rin had been too simplistic to offer anything useful. He was simply not thinking while he was taking the exam and only expressed his gratitude towards Jazz for not rejecting him.   
  
And the two spies from the Vatican just didn't say anything. It was a complete mystery to Mephisto why the Vatican would place undercover spies in the class rather than just having them walk around in the open. It wasn't as if Mephisto didn't know who they were. They should have none that they couldn't fool him.   
  
So Mephisto was not exactly in the highest of moods when Bon entered and sat in the seat across from him. "Mr. Ryuji Suguro. You are the top of your class and come from a once very respectable shine." Mephisto said, seeing Bon's eyebrow twitch with the word 'once'. "So tell me, what were you thinking during my little surprise exam?" Mephisto said as he tapped his finger together.   
  
"I was just trying to do my best." Bon said a bit stiffly.   
  
"Oh come now, you can admit it to me if you were scared." Mephisto said with a smile.   
  
"I wasn't... I mean..." Bon stammered. "I was so pissed off!"   
  
Mephisto nodded. "Well it isn't uncommon for exorcist to be motivated by their personal hatred for de..."   
  
"I wasn't pissed off at the demon!" Bon shouted, interrupting the Demon King. "I was... I was pissed off at myself!" Bon said as he smashed his hands against the table. Mephisto blinked a little, it was surprisingly new. "When we were trapped in the cornered with the ghoul pressing down on us, it was Okumura that ran out to distract it. He ran off to be a hero while I was stuck behind the barricade, hiding like a coward." Bon said, his voice was full of disgust for himself. "And then, Jazz ran out to go and save him. Jazz! I let a girl run off into danger while I sat down reciting lines! I'm... I'm a worthless coward. And then Jazz got hurt because of it." Bon said miserable. "I should have been the one to go. I was more athletic. I could have done something. But I didn't."   
  
Mephisto smiled. This was the kind of thing he loved, the odd motivations of humans that made them do what they did, and made them regret what they didn't. "Interesting." Mephisto said tapping his chin. "You can go now, and tell them to send in the next person."   
  
Mephisto sat back in his seat thinking about the monk boy. He was motivated by a need to be the best. Pride was his sin, he could not endure the idea of only being second best. But how will he react to finding out that Rin and Danny were beings that he could not hope to match. That no matter what he did, human limitations would simply hold him back.   
  
Mephisto could not wait to see that day come. It would either crush the boy's spirit, and push him to height greater than he would have ever gone before.   
  
The next one through his door was Izumo looking less sure of herself than Bon had. "So young lady, how about you tell me your thoughts on the exam."   
  
Izumo fidgeted. "I... didn't do that well." Izumo said embarrassed. "I was to scared to even try to use my familiars until it was too late. If it hadn't been for the others, I wouldn't have lasted ten seconds." Izumo admitted, knowing better than to try to lie to a master of lies like Mephisto.   
  
"But you did summon your familiars in the end. Why is that? What made you get over your fear?" Mephisto asked curiously.   
  
"It... it was that Moriyama girl." Izumo said quietly. "I guess her stupidity jogged me out of it." Mephisto waited for clarification. "Even though everything looked so bad, and she had exhausted herself, she was still worried about me. I had been treating her so badly and she was still worried about me."   
  
Mephisto nodded. "Alright, you can go." He said surprising the girl who got up and left.   
  
Mephisto watched the door close behind her. This girl was motivated by guilt, guilt for hurting those close to her. Though being motivated by such a thing was a double edged swords as the wrong kind of guilt can cripple someone. Her sin was lust, a deep desire for people who she could get close to without being hurt. But it was hindered by many barriers. How will the others react to her, when they found out her secrets?   
  
The next one to enter was Shiemi, and if Izumo looked nervous, then Shiemi seemed to be on the brink of peeing herself as she sat down in the arm chair before the demon. "No need to be scare, little girl. I just need you to tell me what you were thinking during my test." Mephisto said with an oversized smile.   
  
"I... I..." She stammered but was still didn't say anything. Mephisto was starting to get annoyed when she finally said. "I just wanted to help everyone... Like Rin and Yuki." She mumbled.   
  
"The Okumura twins?" Mephisto said tapping his foot.   
  
"Y... yes. I really admire them." Shiemi said squirming around in her seat as she said so. "I was always weak and alone but... I want... I want to be strong like they are!" She finally finished with a shout.   
  
"I see... you can go now." Mephisto said waving her off. The girl was more than willing to do so.   
  
The shy little girl was motivated by admiration of Rin and Yukio. Envy was her sin, she was unsatisfied with how she was and wished to become more like someone else. It was come for humans to have such ideas, idolizing someone that they believed was beyond their reach. But what will she do when she finds out the secrets of the people she had placed on a pedestal? How will she feel when she knows that Rin is part demon?   
  
Next to enter was Jazz. The Fenton girl glared at the Demon King as she sat down. "I don't know what you did, but if you pushed Danny to use his Ghostly Wail, than you went too far." Jazz said angrily.   
  
"Now now, we aren't here to talk about your brother's test. We are here about your results." Mephisto said tipping his hat forward to cover his eyes. "You did very well. You were prepared and didn't hesitate, but... you do had doubts, don't you?" Mephisto said. Jazz could still see his smile, if not his eyes.   
  
She realized that Mephisto was blocking his view of her so that she wouldn't try to hide her reactions. So she didn't hide her wince at the reality of it. "I wasn't prepared." Jazz mumbled. "I only brought enough to keep the ghoul distracted for a while, not enough to actually do anything about it. I... was just going to hold off until Danny arrived." She admitted a little bitterly. "Some big sister I am, depending on my little brother to rescue me whenever things get bad. Even Rin had to save me from the ghoul." Jazz then glared again at the top hat. "Are you happy now?"   
  
"Yes, very." Mephisto said with a smile. "You can go now." Jazz got up and marched out of the room.   
  
She was a responsible young woman who tried to fill the gap her parents who had never had enough time for the family left in her and her brother's lives. A want to keep everyone around her safe and happy was her motivation and experience was her strength. It was to the point were even Rin being the son of Satan was not enough to sway her need to comfort them. But envy was her sin. She couldn't help to to feel inferior to those people she wish so hard to protect. Though she did have her skills, she couldn't compare to Danny's raw power and experience. She had to depend on her younger brother for protection and the truth of that weighed heavily upon her.   
  
Finally Danny entered with a glare that put his sister's to shame, green eyes glowing from behind his black bangs. "Forget it, I'm not going to talk to you about what happened." Danny said angrily as he sat down in the chair.   
  
Mephisto grinned. He didn't need to talk to the boy. He already knew everything he needed to. The boy was motivated by a mixture of curiosity and the desire to protect the people around him. His sin was sloth. He never took a proactive approach in his life, only acting in retaliation after he was attacked.   
  
"Don't worry, Mr. Fenton. I wasn't interested in talking to you about in anyways." Mephisto said interlocking his fingers and leaning forwards in his chair. "There is something else I would like to talk to you about."   
  
"What is it? Need me to do a job for you?" Danny grumbled leaning as far back in his chair as gravity would allow.   
  
"In a way." Mephisto said with a smile. "Since your sister is bound to get Rin to tell you anyways I might as well speed up the process. Rin Okumura's biological father is Satan."   
  
Danny actually fell out of his chair in surprise. "Wow, didn't see that coming." Danny mumbled as he got up.   
  
"And that is why I need you." Mephisto said before the boy could recover from shock. "Rin Okumura's demon heart is starting to awaken, and as a half demon I'm sure you understand the implications." Danny's face went grim and he nodded. "So... here is what you are going to do..."   
  


* * *

 

  
"Eins... Zwei... Drei! Congratulations to you all for being promoted!" Mephisto shouted with his arms held wide as he announced his intentions to promote all of them to the students. The students began to celebrate with cheers and headlocks. "That's right, now all but one of you is an Exwire."   
  
They all went quiet. "What, but I thought you said we all got the promotion?" Bon said confused.   
  
"Well, you were all promoted, but Danny Fenton has been promoted to the rank of an Intermediate Second Class Exorcist!" Mephisto declared.   
  
"What!?" All the students and even some of the instructors shouted. Only Danny and Neuhaus remained quiet.   
  
"But that would make him just one rank below me." Yukio said shocked.   
  
"That's four whole ranks." Konekomaru said wide eyed.   
  
"How is that fair?" Bon grumbled.   
  
"That's right, Danny is now a fuel fledged exorcist with Knight, Dragoon, and Tamer qualifications. And starting tomorrow he will also be your Knight training instructor for any of you who intend to become Knights, where he well be teaching you sword fighting and tactics." Mephisto said happily as he eyed Rin until the spawn of Satan got the message.   
  
"He's my teacher!" Rin shouted in surprise. "First Yukio, now Danny. I'm so proud, but so jealous." Rin said as he struggled with his conflicting emotions.   
  
"We'll that will be all, see you tomorrow!" Mephisto said with a wink before he disappeared into a puff of smoke. Danny just sighed and tried to walk away.   
  
"Hey where do you think your going!" Bon shouted at him.   
  
Danny turned his head. "I've got to prepare a lecture for tomorrow’s class. See you." He said before continuing out the door. Danny was not happy, but if what Mephisto said was true, then he had little choice but to play along for now. Rin's demon heart could not be allowed to awaken without the proper training. Danny wouldn't allow it.


	17. Chapter 17

"Alright, now we are going to be splitting you up to work in your specialized classes." Yukio said as he finished reading off the daily announcements to the class. Everyone divided up to follow the instructors who would be in charge of their more specialized training. As the only student who was aiming for the Doctor class, Jazz was going to be the only one studying under Yukio.   
  
"We'll let’s get to work then." Jazz said, in her normal positive mode as she stood in front of the teacher. But Yukio looked past her to see Rin walking off with Danny. Danny had an official exorcist black coat wrapped around his waist rather than wearing it and looked rather annoyed about having to have it with him at all.   
  
Yukio was uneasy about leaving his brother alone with the other half demon. Danny might not have been openly violent against anyone and didn't use his powers to cheat the system, but he wasn't exactly shy about using them. With the summer approaching and no air conditioning in the building, Danny was actually using his powers to lower the temperature inside by several decrees in order to keep things comfortable. Not exactly evil, but not behavior that Yukio wanted Rin copying when winter came along.   
  
"Hey, Earth to Yukio?" Jazz said trying to gain the boy's attention.   
  
"What?" He said confused. "Oh right. We'll be spending today in the greenhouse so you can become more familiar with the more common herbs." Yukio said as he walked away from Danny and Rin. He gave a small prayer that Danny wouldn't try anything stupid.   
  
"Danny, where are we going?" Rin asked, as Danny lead him far away through the snake like maze of hallways within the school.   
  
"Just a room I've set up for us." Danny said, leaving Rin a little confused. Just how much was there to set up for if they were just doing sword fighting lessons? "Here we are." Danny said stopping in front of a door that looked just like any other. Rin shrugged and followed the boy into a extremely large empty white room with large green magic circles.   
  
As Rin entered Danny closed the door behind them and placed a hand on the door. "Your sins will bind you here until our lord cometh to reclaim his children at the end of days." Danny murmured. The whole room glowed and the colors all switched, leaving them in a green room with white magic circles drawn on the walls.   
  
Rin had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted to the sudden change. "Wow." Rin said as he looked around.   
  
"I know it ain't pretty to look at, but no one will be able to detect us in here, not even that fruitloop Mephisto." Danny said as he walked towards the center of the room. "So no one will find out if I start to teach you how to... huh I don't know, control your demonic powers."   
  
"What!? Are you serious!?" Rin shouted in shock. Then he stopped. "Danny... I... I can't... My demon powers come from..." Rin started, trying to think of a way to turn down the idea without revealing that he was the son of Satan.   
  
"It doesn't matter if you are Satan's son. You will learn to control your powers." Danny said shocking Rin.   
  
"Did Jazz tell you?" Rin asked, wondering where Danny had found out.   
  
"No, Jazz would rather die than tell other people’s secrets." Danny said waving off the idea. "Mephisto told me. It’s the only reason I agreed to become an exorcist. Because I need to teach you to control your powers."   
  
A ring of white light appeared around Danny's waist and the younger boy hair turned white and a misty spectral tail appeared from underneath the jacket he was using like a belt. Danny rested his vivid green eyes on Rin, the same green as the walls around them. He didn't look all that much different than normal. He was still pretty small, not even half the size of the ghoul from the other day. But something told Rin that there was no comparing the two of them. The ghoul had been big, but the demon didn't hold much real power, not like the kind that Danny seemed to be giving out like a light bulb.   
  
"Draw your sword." Danny said simply. Rin grabbed at his sword, but he didn't draw it. He had been told so many times not to that being told to do was put him on edge.   
  
"Rin, have you ever heard of demon hearts?" Danny asked as he noticed the boy's hesitation.   
  
"Don't tell me you're quizzing me already." Rin grumbled since he didn't know.   
  
"A demon’s heart is the source of a demon's power and your demon heart is starting to awaken." Danny said crossing his arms and letting his tail whip back and forth behind him. "This means you have two choices, learn to control your powers now, or wait until they go berserk and you completely destroy yourself and everything around you."   
  
Rin's eyes widened. "Are you serious!?"   
  
"Half demon's like us don't have instinctive control over our powers. We need to learn and adapt to them as they grow. But when your demon heart fully awakens, your power will go through a massive growth spurt all at once. It’s kind of like evil puberty." Danny said with a chuckle that echoed throughout the bright green room. Danny lifted his hand which glowed white with a pale blue hue right before an icicle appeared in the ghost boy's hand.   
  
"When my demon heart started to awaken I began to produce a chilling aura. I couldn't control it at all, it quickly grew and grew and in the core of one day it turned from being able to breath out a slight mist to this." The aura pushed out from Danny and Rin shivered as every suffer of the room was covered in ice. "The power was so out of control that I froze myself alive, along with everything I came in contact with. If it wasn't for the Far Frozen taking me in and showing me how to control it, I would have died that day."   
  
"So, if I don't learn to control my flames soon, then I'll..." Rin started but his words dropped off.   
  
"You will lose complete control over them and you will die, probably burn half the city to the ground while your at it." Danny said nodding.   
  
Rin looked down at the sword in his hands. "But you can teach me how to control it, right?" Rin asked.   
  
"It's up to you. I can show you the methods to gaining control, but its ultimately up to you to gain control." Danny said with a shrug.   
  
Rin nodded and drew his sword. The blue flames covered him and his ears grew out. He took a deep breath before opening his eyes to show that the pupil had turned red. Danny blinked a few times as he looked at Rin, but it was his sixth sense that was shocking him. Rin's power wasn't just large, it was huge. "Then what are we waiting for?" Rin said with a toothy grin as he raised his sword to point it at Danny.   
  
Danny chuckled. "How about you put that thing down now, before you end up hurting yourself." Danny said as he crossed his legs and flouted in the air in front of him. "For your training we just need your sword drawn so you have full access to your flames. The actual sword itself is meaningless."   
  
Rin blinked a few times and set his sword and sheath down to the side before sitting down in front of Danny. His flames twitching around him as he sat there.   
  
"You’re trying to keep your flames in, aren't you?" Danny asked Rin. The Satan spawn nodded as he struggled to keep his flames under control. "Alright then, your first in class assignment is to stop doing that. I want you to build up as much of your fire as you can and let it all out."   
  
"What!? Are you crazy!?" Rin shouted.   
  
"Probably, but if you don't learn to summon your power you will never learn to control it." Danny said putting his hands on his knees. "Don't tell me you're too scared to do it." Rin glared at the ghost boy but didn't take the bait. "Rin, it is just part of the learning process for this kind of thing. First you do something on accident, then you do it on purpose, you get a hand of the feel of it and learn to both draw on the power and vent it without causing damage to those around you. The flames won't stop coming simply because you don't want them. They will just keep building up until they completely overwhelm you."   
  
Rin grumbled a bit but he finally nodded. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and opened up the floodgates. The blue flames quickly jumped outwards in all directions scorching the ground underneath Rin. Danny put up a shield to protect himself, but even though the flames were not targeting him, he found it was actually difficult to hold them back.   
  
A second passed as the flames began to recede back to their original size, but Rin was no longer struggling to hold them in check. "Well that is step one down without you killing anyone." Danny said wondering what he was getting himself into. "How you feel?"   
  
"Um, I don't know. Less tense I guess. My chest doesn't hurt anymore." Rin said, putting a hand over his chest, over the point that Danny knew what his demon heart, directly above the stomach. "So was that it?"   
  
Danny began to laugh. "You've only learned to vent the pressure. You still don't have any control." Danny said. He held his hands together. "Next thing we need to teach you is how to actually control jack. So how about you try turning off those flames around your body, without sheathing your sword. Like this." Danny suddenly stopped glowing. "Shouldn't be that hard."   
  
Rin nodded and looked down at his hands. He grunted and his eyebrow started to twitch with concentration as he tried to reel in his flames, but nothing happened. "Dammit! This isn't working!" Rin shouted angrily.   
  
"Rin, you've only been trying for twenty seconds. Things take time and effort." Danny said scratching his head. "Just keep trying. I'm sure you'll get it soon."   


 

* * *

 

 

"Dammit!" Rin shouted filling with frustrated rage, causing his flames to burst out even harder in response to his heightened emotions before he managed to pulled them back to normal levels. It had been thirty minutes with no noticeable response.   
  
"Wow, and here I always thought my self control was bad." Danny said as he watched the scorch mark on the ground underneath the demon child's ass grow larger and larger with every passing failure.   
  
"What did you say!?" Rin growled. As his frustration grew his more demonic nature became more and more apparent and he snapped out at any slight insult.   
  
"None of this is your fault. The problem is that you have no experience with doing anything like this. It’s like I'm trying to teach you how to do synchronized swimming when it’s your first time in the pool." Danny said scratching his head. "Oh well, we'll take a break from this for now are try some actual sword fighting. Sheath your sword and come over here." Danny said as he walked over to a wall were two magic circles had been inscribed. He placed his hand on each of them and they glowed before he reached into the wall and pulled out two wooden swords.   
  
"Where did you learn to make magic circles like that?" Rin asked as he put away his sword.   
  
"Huh? Oh. My mom and dad did research on magic circles before they were kicked out of the Vatican. I got into there old books once and a friend of mine convinced me to learn it." Danny said as he walked back to Rin.   
  
"Your parents were kicked out of the Vatican, why?" Rin asked as Danny tossed him one of the wooden swords.   
  
"Several reasons. They were extremists even by exorcist standards, trying to argue for the killing off of several demon tribes that the Vatican had peace treaty with." Danny said with a sigh. "If they had ever known what I was, they would have probably tried to cut me open in my sleep." Rin winced at the thought. He couldn't help but to think back to Old Man Shiro. He hadn't even been Rin's real father, but he had loved Rin and Yukio without question and had even died for Rin. The idea that parents could turn on their own children was a frightening idea for him. "They also broke taboo by integrating black magic grimoires into electronic circuits."   
  
"Wha?" Rin asked, more than a little confused.   
  
"Alright, imagine you had a spell, a really nasty curse that could do some serious damage, but in order to use it you had to offer up your own life force as payment to a demon. That is the nature of black magic, and because of that there are only a few humans who are will and able to do it." Danny explained. "But if you integrate the contract into an electronic device, then you can use electricity as payment for the demon contract."   
  
"Wow! Then it would be safe to use!" Rin said, not understanding the implications of such technology. "I don't get it, how is that a bad thing?"   
  
"Because it becomes safe to use, and everyone can use it." Danny said seriously. "If one of them falls into the wrong hands or is manipulated by a crafty demon, then you could have a disaster on your hands. Imagine if someone started to mass produce them and went handing them out to just random passersby on the street. You would have an entire city full of people who are summoning demons who lack the willpower to control them. Armies of wild demons would pop up over night and all the exorcists in the world wouldn't be able to stop it. This world would fall in a few days." Rin gulped as he imagined it. "So my parents were kicked out of the church and their research was destroyed. But they started all over in secret, only breaking even more taboos. So when the Vatican found out, they arrested them. I'm not really sure what has happened to them. It's probably better if I don't know. Can't feel as bad that way."   
  
"I'm... sorry man." Rin said a little awkwardly.   
  
"Don't be." Danny responded with a slight smile as he raised his wooden sword. "Just defend yourself." Rin blinked and raised his sword just in time to stop a strike from Danny. But that didn't do him very much good as Danny swept his feet out from under him, knocking him to the ground before Danny reached out and grabbed the boy's tail. "Never leave your tail so exposed, a mistake like that could get you killed." Danny said as Rin whimpered. Danny let go of the tail and took a few steps back and waited for Rin to get back up. "Now, again!"   
  


* * *

 

  
"Alright, is everyone here?" The Aria teacher asked as everyone's specialized training sessions were over and they were returning to their normal classes.   
  
"No, Rin hasn't come back yet." Shiemi said as she sat in her seat, waiting for her friend to return.   
  
The instructor sighed. "Well, considering Mr. Okumura was training alongside Mr. Fenton, I would venture a guess and say that they are asleep somewhere." The instructor said in her thick French accent.   
  
"I... I'm here." A moan came from the open door. The students were a little surprised to see Rin walk in covered in bruises all over his exposed arms with a small lump on his head.   
  
"Rin! Are you okay!?" Shiemi said, sounding like a worried mother.   
  
Rin had a wide grin splitting his face. "Don't worry Shiemi. He might have beat me this time... but... but tomorrow... I'll kick his... kick his..." Rin tried to take a step forward but fell to the ground.   
  
Shiemi screamed and ran to check on the boy as Jazz sighed. "You couldn't have just gone easy on him, could you?" She said as she got up along with Bon to help carry Rin to the nurse's office where she took care of his injures. The reason she gave for this was practice, since she was training to be a Doctor, but the real reason was so that no one would see his tail. "Just keep trying Rin. Danny may be harsh, but he's the best there is."


	18. Chapter 18

A tragedy. Hundreds died and millions at risk.  
  
A high level rot demon killed everyone inside of a nuclear power plant and soon the whole building will explode, and in one of the most densely populated area of Japan too. The damage would be beyond repair and there was nothing that anyone could do. The demon's powerful miasma prevented any human from approaching and in the amount of time it would take to get a proper team prepared it could be too late.   
  
But was this a random attack? Or was it to send a message? Or perhaps the demon hoped to gain something from the disaster. If so, what?   
  
Mephisto was old and wise far beyond what his appearance would lead people to believe, and he knew one thing for certain. A rot demon was not smart enough to take out the staff of a power plant that would cause this much damage. Someone was pulling the strings and using more than likely going to use the tragedy to cover up something or pull attention away from their real target.   
  
"It looks like someone is deliberately trying to make me angry." Mephisto murmured to himself as he tapped a finger on the report. He had two hours before the plant exploded and took out a chunk of Japan with it. A chunk of Mephisto's precious Japan. Everyone knew that you could you could do a lot of things to Mephisto and he really wouldn't mind to deeply. You could try to kill him, arrest him, you could steal from him or lie to him, and he wouldn't be anymore than slightly annoyed. But no one fucked with Japan.   
  
When he found out who was behind this, he would show them so much pain that they would beg for the sweet embrace of death just to get away from it. They might even be dumb enough to sell him their soul for their mortal suffering to end. Mephisto hoped so, immortal suffering was a lot more entertaining to watch. And if it had been his younger brother Astaroth behind it, then he would double the suffering in order to remind the other Kings of the pecking order.   
  
But the Demon King pushed thoughts of souls burning away in the blackened flames in order to concentrate on how he was going to deal with the current situation. But a smile crossed his face as the obvious answer came to him. If you can't use a human, use something that is a little more than human.   


* * *

 

Yukio was just getting back from a long day at the office filling out paperwork and request forms, when he walked by the kitchen and smelled something baking. "Rin's in the kitchen again." Yukio said to himself with a half smile. His brother did spend a lot of time experimenting with cooking. "If only he put that kind of effort into his studies."  
  
Yukio decided to peek in and see what Rin was making. He hadn't had dinner yet, so with any luck he would get something to eat.   
  
"Hey Rin, what are you making?" Yukio asked as he entered the back room of the kitchen, but he froze as he saw what Rin was doing.   
  
Rin was sitting at the table staring at an apple pie that was in the middle of being baked. But it wasn't in the oven. It was sitting on a collection of tiles in the middle of the table and was covered in blue flames.   
  
"Hey Yukio, it'll be done in a minute, but it will need time to cool down. If you need something right now there is some left over fried rice in the pot over by the sink." Rin said, not taking his eyes off of the pie. "Man it smells so good."   
  
"Rin! What the hell do you think you’re doing!?" Yukio shouted when he finally found his voice.   
  
"I'm baking an apple pie. I got the recipe from Jazz but I'm putting my own spin on it by mixing in some..." Rin started but was cut off by his brother shouting.   
  
"Why would you bake a pie using your flames!?" Yukio shouted, the boy looked as if he was going to have a heart attack.   
  
"Because its my homework. Now do you mind? This isn't as easy as you would think, I have to spread the flames evenly within the pie to give off heat but not burn it or cause it to catch fire. That way I can have the apples inside it be evenly roasted without the crust losing its flaky texture." Rin said as he concentrated on the flames.   
  
"Homework! Who told you to bake a pie!?" Yukio asked in confused shock.   
  
"Danny did. He thought that if I was practicing doing something I enjoy, then the learning process would go faster." Rin said evenly.   
  
"Rin... you are using satanic powers... to make baked goods." Yukio said starting to wonder if it was even possible to reason with his brother.   
  
"I know, it’s pretty handy, huh." Rin said with a grin.   
  
"Rin..." Yukio pouted.   
  
"What? Hey, if you don't want any you don't have to eat it." Rin said defensively. "I wonder if Shiemi would like some. I bet she's never had any apple pie before." Rin said a distant look coming to his eyes as he imagined his crush eating some of his pie. The flames flickered slightly and Rin's attention immediately went back to the fire. This wasn't something as simple as life and death, this was cooking and it needed his full attention.   
  
"This is insane..." Yukio said to himself. What sane person would eat pie baked in the flames of evil.   
  
"How's it going, Rin?" Jazz asked as she entered the kitchen area before spotting Yukio. "Oh Yukio, your back. How was everything at work today?"   
  
Yukio was to shocked to speak as Jazz sat down across from Rin, acting as if there was nothing odd about the situation.   
  
"Actually I just finished." Rin said with a wide grin as he let the flames disappear. "Now we just need to wait for it to cool down a bit." Rin said as he leaned back and rolled his shoulders causing his joints to pop a bit. He had been sitting in the same position for around ten minutes. "So where's Danny? Shouldn't he be down here to?"   
  
Jazz shook her head. "No, he just got a message from Mephisto. Apparently he's being sent off on a mission. He didn't have enough time to give me the details." Jazz said with a shrug.   
  
"What..." Rin grumbled, biting down on the swear words that came to mind at how unfair it was. "Man, I want to go on missions too. How am I supposed to improve if they don't get to go on missions. I mean what was even the point of being promoted to exwire? The exwire are just bottom feeders." Rin grumbled as he picked up a chart of the different ranks. "Where are you on here, Yukio?"   
  
Yukio sighed realizing that his brother had already moved the topic along. "Intermediate First Class. Danny is one level below me at Intermediate Second Class."   
  
Rin looked over the chart and found the two boxes set in the dead middle. "Hah! And here I thought you were some kind of big shot. You’re not that great." Rin joked.   
  
"I don't want to hear that from you." Yukio said trying to act like that didn't annoy him.   
  
"So, what the h...eck does it take to make it up to this 'Paladin' thing that's at the very top?" Rin asked curiously. He had to omit his swearing again. He had the vague impression that his late father was laughing at him for going to such lengths to not upset Jazz. "Jeez, I can't wait to be allowed to go on missions."   
  
Yukio was quiet for a second before answering. "The rank of Paladin is only awarded to a single exorcist. They don't just give it to anyone." The younger brother said seriously. "And we are not sending you on any missions for the time being."   
  
"What? Why not?" Rin asked angrily.   
  
"Because you are a loose cannon and you disregard orders. Not to mention the way you fight... you rely too much on Satan's power. Your even cooking with it." Yukio said flatly.   
  
"Hey, lay off the pie. I told you, it's homework." Rin said defensively.   
  
"That doesn't matter. If you keep acting like this you're going to expose yourself. Jazz already saw your flames. How long will it be until the rest of the class sees them as well." Yukio said. "If you don't stop using Satan's flames, then their power will consume you completely."   
  
"What the h...eck. Who cares as long as I sever everyone? And besides, Danny says that if I don't learn to control my power that it will consume me whether or not I use it all the time. That's why I'm practicing." Rin said getting a little angry. "You don't know everything."   
  
"I'm speaking for Dad!" Yukio said starting to raise his voice. "Dad never wanted you to use your flames! I can just see him turning over in his grave right now, over you!"   
  
"Don't kid yourself, the old fart is probably laughing is a...butt off right now." Rin said with a shrug.   
  
"'Old fart'? How long are you going to live in this Rebellious Teenage phase? Isn't it about time you grew up?" Yukio said.   
  
"And how about you!?" Rin demanded. "How long are you gonna act like a big shot grownup!? Just because you're a smarty pants, and don't get carried away cause Shiemi's crushing on you!"   
  
"Huh? Why are you bringing up Shiemi all of the sudden!? And anyways, Shiemi's not crushing on me, and I'm not getting carried away!" Yukio said back.   
  
"Yes she is, Four Eyes! What, you can't see that, even with those glasses on!?" Rin said angrily.   
  
They both stopped as they heard Jazz starting to laugh. "It's about time you two act like siblings rather than rebellious student and over confident teacher." Jazz said to calm them down. "But Yukio, you keep saying something that isn't true. It isn't Satan's power, it’s Rin's. It is part of him, part of who he is, and forcing him to deny it isn't healthy for him, physically or mentally. You need to accept that Rin isn't just human."   
  
Yukio looked like he was about to argue but then his phone began to ring. He picked it up and turned away from the others. "Yes, this is Okumura." Yukio said back to his professional manner. He listened to what was said for a few seconds before responding with. "Right, I'm on my way right now."   
  
"Is it a mission?" Rin asked, a grin splitting his face as his tail wagged back and forth like a dog's.   
  
"It has nothing to do with you, Rin." Yukio said before turning and leaving the room.   
  
"He really is full of himself." Jazz said with a sigh. "What is he trying to prove anyways?"   
  
"Come on!" Rin said as he started running towards the door. "If it’s a mission, then I want to be there! Think of it as a field trip. Observing how its supposed to be done!" Rin said, rationalizing his actions as he ran to catch up to his younger brother. Jazz shrugged a little before following. She had seen Danny at work before, but never an exorcist. A first hand demonstration might be a good learning experience.


	19. Chapter 19

"Dammit." Danny mumbled as he walked through the door of Mephisto's office after the world’s shortest debriefing and found himself walking out of a shrine at the edge of the city where the power plant was set to go nuclear. "Dammit. Dammit. Dammit."   
  
Danny was not usually one for swearing. There was rarely any wit or irony to be hand in simple swear words. But those were the only words that he could use to describe the situation.   
  
He didn't want to be an exorcist. He didn't want to run around killing demons. He didn't want to be ordered around by people that looked at him and his kind as little more than hunting dogs, only kept alive to help take down more difficult game. And he sure as hell didn't want to spend his life working for Mephisto. But at the same time, he couldn't sit by and watch as hundreds of people died.   
  
So he found himself walking out of the shrine to find two other exorcists from Mephisto's personal staff waiting for him. Ones that had already been made aware of Danny's blood status.   
  
Not that they were there to help. They gave him an ear piece and an instruction manual on how to activate the safety features in the plant's control room, before pointed him in the right direction and gave him a slap on the bum to get going.   
  
If Danny had been more like some demons, he would have probably ripped the people’s heads off for not at least pretending that they wanted to help. But no, they seemed to be of the mind set of let the kid risk his life, he's only a demon.   
  
It didn't help that he knew that a task force being set up by the Vatican was being assembled on the other side of town at a different shrine and that if he took too long and was spotted inside of the area after fixing the problem, then they would probably pin the whole thing on him without any evidence, and then he would have to depend on Mephisto bailing him out. Not only would this mean that the Vatican would know about him, but he would also be placed in Mephisto's debt, and that could prove dangerous.   
  
It wasn't like he believed that Mephisto was 'evil', just like he wouldn't say that Clockwork was evil. But the two high rank time demons did have a tendency of messing with people. And Danny had to find out the hard way that owing Clockwork a favor could land you in a world of unnecessary trouble.   
  
If asked which of the two was more powerful, Danny would have answered Mephisto. It was really a no brainer. Clockwork might have been wiser, but he could only stop time in a room for a few minutes by using his staff. Mephisto could stop the time on an entire continent for a month just by counting to three. Not that he would. Like Clockwork he seemed almost completely against the idea of helping out directly.   
  
Danny hadn't been flying for long when he started to smell the miasma in the air. He didn't drop his invisibility even though the town was supposed to have been evacuated. Since you never know who might be watching, or what there intentions might be.   
  
The power plant wasn't that hard to find being that it he could sense a demonic presence from. Six demonic presences actually. One large one and five smaller. The miasma was strong enough to be overwhelming as Danny phased through the walls of the power plants main structure. But that isn't what made the Phantom gag. He lost it at the site that was inside.   
  
He had been warned at the effect that such a powerful miasma could have on humans, but it was another thing altogether to actually see it sprawled out in front of him. The halls were strewn with bodies, each had been twisted and deformed by the impure demon's miasma. Large deformities covered their skin as if they all had suddenly come down with a cause of full body skin cancer. Their faces contorted from the last minutes of agony they must have suffered as their death would be neither quick nor painless.   
  
The ghost demon that was a part of who Danny was could feel their dying pleas, the pain, the horror, the unfinished business, and most of all the desperation to have some form of revenge for what happened to them. But Danny needed to continue. He needed to look passed the dead. He had to save those who were still alive.   
  
So doing his best not to look down at the bodies that littered the floor, Danny flew over them towards where he knew the control room to be. He was almost halfway there when he sensed a demon making its way through the side hall in front of him, approaching fast.   
  
Danny knew perfectly well that his invisibility wouldn't work on demons so he glanced around to find somewhere to hide where he would still be able to get a good look at his target, since after he was done shutting down the nuclear reactor he was to either take down or seal away any demon that he found in the building. Taking them alive was preferred, though the impure one had to be destroyed, an order that even the 'live and let live' Danny understood completely. Even an immature impure one could cause damage on an international level if left unchecked. Danny only had to glance down at his feet to remind himself of that fact.   
  
Spotting an air vent he flew up to it, turning intangible and passing through the cover before turning around to peer out through the slits in the covering. He stopped his instinctive breathing and waited as he sensed the demon getting closer and closer.   
  
Danny was a little shocked when instead of seeing a malformed horror covered in puss and dragging along some kind of mutated limb, the image that came to mind whenever someone thought of a rot demon. Instead he saw a beautiful pearly white snake with silvery markings that looked to be around twenty or so feet long with gray feathers coming out from just behind its jaw line.   
  
It wasn't a rot demon at all. It was a light type, if Danny had ever seen one. Probably with a water subtype given the way its scales looked like the surface of a lake reflecting moon like as the snake moved across the floor avoiding the bodies rather than devouring them. What was a light type demon doing working alongside a rot type? Danny could only wonder as the snake stopped and flicked its tongue in and out, testing the air as it moved its head back and forth.   
  
Danny did not hesitate, the moment its body began to tense up he knew his cover had been blow and if he wanted to proceed without the alarm being raised he would have to take the demon down. He flew straight out of the wall just as the demon snake made a lung for him. Danny lifted up his spear to take the hit having the snakes mouth, holding the creatures ten inch fangs at arms length until Danny kicked the creature in the head sending it to the wall.   
  
The snake shook its head and looked at Danny as the boy's hands glowed bright whitish blue and the snake was in cased in ice. Danny flew over and place a hand on the ice to check the snake's vitals. Just as he thought, even though it was frozen solid it was still very much alive, it was a water subtype after all. Danny let out a sigh before floating up into the air. He would need to move quickly before the other demons realized the snake was missing or stumbled upon it.   
  
Danny took off with renewed haste as he speed through the halls towards his destination. As he got closer he realized that there were two demons lying in wait in the control room. How did these demons even know to go to the control room? And don't they realize they will lose their vessels should the reactor go critical?   
  
There had to be some sort of puppet master, but Danny didn't have time to figure it out. Danny passed straight through the wall of the room on the opposite side as the door to find that there were two large mantis demons inside of the room.   
  
The mantises were taken off guard and Danny shocked them both with a ghost stinger to take them out of commotion. Unfortunately, he didn't have any means for sealing them in order to take them alive, so he destroyed the host bodies, sending the demon hearts back where they came from.   
  
But as Danny scanned the room he immediately realized that it was no good. The mantises had completely wrecked the controls. "Well shot." Danny mumbled as he tapped on his ear piece. "Casper to homeroom, I've got a problem." Danny said using a code that he made up on the spot in the hopes of messing with whatever exorcist was on the other side.   
  
"Was seems to be the probable my little ghost boy?" Mephisto's cheery voice asked, causing Danny to inwardly groan.   
  
"All the controls are smashed. I can't shut off the reactor from the control room." Danny said quickly knowing that time was not on his side, even if the king of it was on the other end of the line.   
  
"Oh that's too bad. I suppose that means you will just have to fly into reactor's core and release you cold energy in order to turn it off." Mephisto said smugly.   
  
"...You knew all this would happen didn't you?" Danny asked angrily. Sure he could survive flying into the middle of a nuclear reactor, but that didn't mean it was something that he was comfortable doing.   
  
"Danny, I am insulted that you would even ask me such a question." Mephisto said, pretending to be insulted. "After all, I do know everything." Mephisto hung up leaving Danny seriously considering ditching the mission to go and feed the King of Time a plate of his own smug. But in the end, he knew he had to take care of the plant first. His revenge on Mephisto would just have to wait.


	20. Chapter 20

By the time Yukio had arrived on the scene at the north bridge of the True Cross Academy, an entire squad of exorcists had already arrived, a perimeter had been set up with yellow caution tape, an exorcist standing guard.   
  
Even from the outside Yukio could hear the demon he had been called in to get rid of. A demon he had hoped he would never have to exorcise, though he knew that after his father's death, that the day would come eventually.   
  
"Yukio Okumura, Intermediate First Class exorcist." Yukio said to the guard as he held up his exorcist ID. The guard nodded and let him through.   
  
Yukio was taking a deep breath to emotionally prepare himself for what he was about to do when he heard two voices behind him.   
  
"Rin Okumura, Exwire." "Jasmine Fenton, also an Exwire." Yukio turned around wide eyed to see Rin and Jazz being let passed the tap.   
  
"Wha!? What are you two doing here!?" Yukio shouted.   
  
"We were worried about you, so we came to watch so we could make sure you didn't go and get yourself hurt. That's what a big brother does right." Rin said with a stupid grin that made Yukio quickly realize that he was just trying to be rebellious.   
  
"You shouldn't be here! It’s too dangerous, Jazz's arm hasn't even healed." Yukio pointed out Jazz's cast. "Go home!" Yukio said seriously.   
  
"Yukio, we're just going to watch. Think of it as visual learning." Jazz said as she made it clear she wasn't leaving, Rin sticking out his tongue at his younger brother.   
  
"You two just don't..." Yukio started, but was cut off by the roar of the demon. "I don't have time for this. Just go home!" He shouted before running on ahead.   
  
"As if." Rin said before chasing after him, Jazz not far behind.   
  
Once they got past the security check point building they saw what demon Yukio had been called to take care off. It was a massive cat, one that was the same size as Cujo in his giant form, if not a little larger. It had pitch black fur with a white face and a strip of white fur around its right foreleg. On its had were two thick horns and unlike a normal cat, its tail was split in two.   
  
No fewer than a dozen exorcists were shooting what looked like tranquilizer darts at the giant cat demon.   
  
"What happened here?" Yukio asked a pair of injured guards who were being treated by another exorcist who had Doctor qualifications.   
  
"Kuro suddenly went berserk and started to attack us." One of the guards said. "I'm afraid we let it slip that Father Fujimoto had died. I'm sorry." Rin was a little surprised to hear his adopted father's name being mentioned. Why would his death have caused the demon to go berserk.   
  
'Liars!' Rin heard echoing through the air. 'You're all liars!' He turned to look at the giant black cat. Somehow he knew that it was the one shouting out.   
  
"Excuse me, but... what are you planning to do with Kuro?" The second of the two guards asked.   
  
"Don't worry, we will deal with him." Yukio said trying to maintain a professional manner.   
  
"Hey, what does that mean? What does any of this have to do with the old man's death?" Rin asked looking back and forth from Yukio to the cat.   
  
"That Cat Sidhe was father's familiar." Yukio said as the cat pounced down on a nearby exorcist to carry him back before ramming over an eighteen wheeler.   
  
"That was dad's familiar?" Rin said in amazement. The cat looked just as impressive as Danny's ghost dog familiar. "What's a Cat Sidhe?"   
  
"Its a demon that possesses cats. The ones in Japan are unique for developing that split tail you see thereafter they live for a long enough time. That Cat Sidhe was revered for centuries in a part of the countryside as a protective deity of silkworms." Yukio said, showing a vast knowledge of the demon. "For protecting the silkworms from mice or natural disasters, he was worshipped at a local shrine and co-existed with humans. But as times changed and the silkworm breeding died out, the people forgot about their protector, until one day they were going to tear down his shrine. Having lost his home the god became a demon and started to attack any who came near his hill."   
  
"That's so sad." Jazz said quietly. "It sounds similar to Cujo's story." This caught Rin's attention some what. "In life, Cujo was born and raised to be a guard dog, but when technology improved and guard dogs became out of date, he was replaced. But since he was considered a dangerous guard dog, he was put down instead of given a new home."   
  
'Liars!' Rin turned back to the bridge to see a female exorcist tossing a holy water grenade onto the cat demon, but the cat just shook it off along with all the injection needled bullets that were in his sides. He didn't seem at all concerned about any of them.   
  
Yukio ran forward to the rest of the exorcists. "Is everyone alright?" Yukio asked as he got there.   
  
"Yukio? Things aren't so good, nothings working." The female exorcist said as the kids reached them. "We've tried holy water, holy silver, holy wine and holy pharmaceuticals, but all of it was useless. And we don't even know if Cat Sidhes even have a fatal verse."   
  
"He really is an upper middle class light demon. A fallen god." Another exorcist added as they all took a step back. "We've pumped him full of tranquilizers to slow him down, but they will wear off fast." Rin looked over at the demon that was keeping its distance at the moment, only baring its teeth at them. "Did Father Fujimoto ever tell you anything about Kuro?"   
  
"Yukio participated in the mission that day." The female exorcist said not looking away from the demon. "Back when Yukio was still an Exwire, a series of bizarre phenomena occurred on a construction site in a certain village. The villagers declared it cursed and turned to the Knights of the True Cross for help. The man chosen to annihilate the god turned demon, was the Paladin, Father Fugimoto himself."   
  
"Dad was... the Paladin?" Rin murmured in shock.   
  
"I was stunned by his ability to resolve the situation without spilling a single drop of blood." The woman went on to say.   
  
"Afterwards, Dad named him 'Kuro' and put him under contract to serve as gatekeeper of the academy." Yukio said finishing the story.   
  
"But the fact is, he is still a demon." Another exorcist said. "Once he loses his master, he reverts to his wild state, I guess."   
  
Jazz gritted her teeth at the comment. "That isn't fair. Begin a demon isn't the same as being evil." She said glaring at the man. But none of the exorcists seemed to be paying attention to the Exwire.   
  
"My father prepare this just in case something happened and Kuro became out of control." Yukio said holding up what looked like another holy water grenade. "It appears to be a modified hand grenade, most likely filled with medicine that will kill Kuro." Rin and Jazz were both a little shocked about how offhandedly Yukio was talking about using it. "But since the power and nature of this device are unknown, I want you to pull back before I thought it, just in case."   
  
'Liars!' Rin heard the cat screaming again. 'Shiro is the most powerful one of all! He would never die!' The cat screamed as all the exorcists moved back, seemingly overlooking Rin and Jazz.   
  
"Alright, let’s see what this does." Yukio said as he started to lift the grenade, but it was plucked from his hands, leaving him confused and dazed. Until he turned to see Jazz holding it with a glare on her face. "What are you doing!?"   
  
"No! 'What are you doing!?' Because it looks like you are about to kill Kuro without even trying to work things out." Jazz said angrily.   
  
"Wha?" Yukio said with a dumbfounded look on his face. Rin could only recognize the signs of Jazz going into lecture mode and thought that Yukio should be glad she didn't have a free hand to grab his ears with. "We can't do anything else, we don't have a tamer here that can subdue a demon of this class."   
  
"I said 'work things out' not enforce your will upon him. He used to have a agreement with humans long before he became your fathers familiar, so he can be reasoned with." Jazz said putting her foot down on the matter and holding the grenade away from Yukio when he tried to take it back from her.   
  
"Jazz that was when it was a god, it is a demon now, a savage monster, we can't reason with it." Yukio said as he tried to get at the grenade, but Jazz pushed the thing into her purse and it disappeared from the younger Okumura's reach.   
  
"And what about Ukobach and Cujo? Or Mephisto? Or even Rin and Danny? Can none of them be reasoned with?" Jazz said as she finally had a free hand to grab the exorcist's ear, causing him to yelp in pain.   
  
Jazz's lecturing continued, but Rin wasn't listening to them anymore. He was listening to Kuro. 'Shiro isn't dead! He's coming back! And I won't die either!'   
  
"I understand now." Rin said as he started to walk towards the Cat Sidhe.   
  
"Rin, what are you doing!?" Yukio shouted but the older brother didn't listen.   
  
"Hey!" Rin shouted to the cat demon to get its attention. "I'm Rin Okumura, Shiro's son!" The cat demon seemed a bit surprised by this decoration, but its anger returned at Rin's next words. "Shiro's dead."   
  
'LIAR!' The demon bellowed causing all the human's nearby to shiver slightly, but Rin just kept eye contact with the demon.   
  
"Shiro's dead!" Rin shouted even louder. Kuro screamed and ran straight for Rin who braced himself as their two heads collided.   
  
"Wha!?" Yukio gasped as Jazz facepalmed at the boy's thick headedness. But surprisingly enough it was the truck sized cat that fell over to the ground.   
  
Rin pushed aside some blind that was coming out of his nose and walked up to demon cat as it recovered from the impact. "You really loved the old man, didn't you?" Rin said sadly as he looked into the cat’s eyes. "So you were just sad, that all. Well, I'm sad too." Rin said, holding out his hand to the cat. "Let’s be friends."   
  
Kuro looked up at the boy who was holding his hand out to him and remembered the man who had said almost the exact same thing just three years ago. Tears started to come to Kuro's eyes and he went through the stages of realization of his friends death; denial, bordering, and finally acceptance.   
  
'Shiro... Shiro... I'll never get to see you again... Shiro...' Rin finally blinked as the massive demon cat in front of him disappeared and was replaced by an ordinary sized cat that had burst into tears. 'You're really dead.'   
  
Seeing the cat's distress Rin went over to try to comfort him the best he could.   
  
"Rin did it... Just like dad did." Yukio mumbled as he watched.   
  
"Fighting isn't always the right answer. Sometimes all you need to do is talk." Jazz said as she pulled the grenade back out of her purse and handed it back to Yukio. "I hope you've learned your lesson."   
  
Yukio was still too stunned to move as Jazz also moved forward without fear towards the cat. "I... really can't compete with them, can I?" He wondered to himself with a small smile. He was glad he hadn't had to kill Kuro.   
  


* * *

 

Mephisto looked down as the event transpired below him from his flying armchair in the sky. "It looks like our young boys had learn a valuable lesson about the power of words. A lesson about how killing might not always be the best answer." Mephisto said seemingly looking straight out of your computer, directly at you. "But how about we now go back to the other side of that coin, where our little ghost friend has to learn that some beings must simply be destroyed! Because in this world of ours, sometimes the only sure fire way of saving lives, is to take a life away."


	21. Chapter 21

Danny was being forced to do what he almost always had to do, improvise.   
  
He had no idea where the main reactor was, so what he had planned to do was go to the waste outlet, which was in his safety manual, and follow the pipes back to the source.   
  
And just because it always seemed to turn out that way, he ended up running into the demons along the way. Two of them were stationed in the hall outside of the room and the last one, the one that was on the level of a low greater demon was stationed inside.   
  
"Can't believe we're having to guard this rotten piece of filth." One of the two guarding demon grumbled. It looked like a large hairless chimpanzee with blue skin and long tail that ended in a pitch fork. It use sitting down on a chair that was made by stacking four of the human corpses on top of one and other in a horrible disregard for the dead, his long nailed claws digging into the peoples bodies causing smoked to be released as it burned their flash. Danny have to clench his fist hard enough to feel his nails digging into his skin, in order to drowned out the shouted of the just recently departed who demanded retribution. "Not to mention those damned bugs. They're beneath us."   
  
"Quiet brother." The other demon growled back. He looked nearly identical to the first only his skin was dark red. "I don't care how 'beneath us' this is. We do this one job and then we're free to kill as many humans as we want. I say it was worth a ride into Assiah. And besides..." He said with a grin as he lifted a woman whose faces was covered in the hideous cancer like boils from the rot demon's miasma. "... I did so love to see the agony on the faces of these pathetic humans as they died slowly from the impure brat's bacteria. Though I will enjoy when it is our turn and we can roast the pills of flesh alive." It said as it began to burn the woman's body.   
  
It was to much for Danny. He didn't care if he was supposed to be bringing them in for questioning. He was going to send them back to Gehenna where they belonged.   
  
"What the?" The red demon said as he noticed Danny standing there. "Hey look what we got here. I didn't think any of these human's was going to be producing a ghost for a while." The demon laughed, not terrible afraid as a newly born ghost has yet to stabilize itself and gain power. Two mid rank demons like them could easily take down such a ghost.   
  
"And look at him, I didn't realize that there were children here. Must be from the elementary school next door." The blue demon joined his brother in mocking Danny. But Danny could hardly hear it. The cries for vengeance were too loud. But the blue demon stopped laughing as he noticed something. "Hey brother, is... is that an exorcist's jacket around that ghost's waist?"   
  
"Huh?" The red demon said moments before Danny's spear was plunged into its body pinning it against the wall. The demon gave one gasp of surprise before its demon's heart lost its connection with its host, and the demon was replaced by a pile of coals.   
  
"Brother!" The blue demon shouted in shock before Danny's hand wrapped around its throat and pinned it to the wall. Ice began to form around the fire demon's throat causing it to scream in pain.   
  
"Tell me who you work for." Danny growled as demon tried to struggle against him.   
  
"We... I..." The demon began to gasp as it looked into Danny's fiery green eyes. He seemed terrified, but then he just started to laugh. "Do what... whatever you want. The worst you can do is send me back. But the boss with end me if I tell."   
  
Danny bared his teeth but then just snapped the demon's neck. The fire demon's body dispersed and it's vessel of what seemed to be chopped wood fell to the ground, clattering on the floor. Danny walked over to the woman's body which had been burned. Its dark brown eyes still holding the horror of being forced to rot, dying in a horribly painful manner and her body’s nerves overloaded from the pain of growing the boils all over her body.   
  
Danny reached out one hand and closed the woman's eyes. "I am sorry." Danny mumbled. It was all he could think to say. Despite being an exorcist and a half demon, Danny considered himself a kin to an atheist. Not believing in any benevolent absolute power, nor that there was any heaven out there for those who kissed up to it. What gods he had seen with his own eyes were completely indistinguishable from demons. Made the boy believe that were truly was no different between angels and demons. Except that people don't try to hunt down angels.   
  
'Please... hurry.' Something seemed to mumble back. Danny nodded and stood up to look at the room where the impure demon was hiding. It was time for Danny to finish this madness. But if he had thought the fire brothers had been sick, at least they had only been torturing the already dead.   
  
The moment the door opened the miasma along with the smell of decay until he thought he was going to vomit. The room was disgusting, the walls were covered in hideous gray boils, as if the cancers cells that the rot demon brought about had grown out until they had covered the entire room, breaking open the barrels of radioactive waste in order to feed on the putrid slug.   
  
Danny hovered off the ground, not wanting to touch any of it as he hovered through the room. He looked around, trying to figure out where the demons heart was so that he could seal it away, but something distracted him from this task. The sound of crying. Danny flew towards in and after rounding a stack of barrels he saw what it was and his stomach dropped.   
  
In the corner was a small child, only around seven years old, with everything but his face was buried underneath layers of the rot. He was weeping, crying out in agony, but he was still alive. Danny could not hear the whispers of the departed coming from him. "It hurts... make... make it stop." He whimpered.   
  
"Holy shit." Danny swear, his eyes widening at the sight.   
  
The boy's eyes opened fully and Danny could see that one of them was pitch black with a green mark burned into the middle of it. It was the demon's heart. "Kami?" The child muttered as he looked at Danny. "Please Kami, make it stop. Please."   
  
With the amount of miasma in the air, the boy would have died instantly, but instead he was being kept alive by the demon. Why? A rot demon didn't require a live human vessel in order to exist. So why would he keep the boy alive. Was it some kind of sick torture?   
  
Danny flew towards the boy but the decay lashed out at him trying to keep him back, forcing the ghostboy to use a shield of green light to hold the rotten flesh off. Danny couldn't stop though, so keeping up the shield him moved forward up to the boy.   
  
The damage was total. The child’s body was completely gone. Even if he sealed the demon without hurting the child, the boy's organs were gone, he would die in seconds. Danny swallowed down on dread that was coming over him, as he realized he was going to have to be the one to snuff out the child's life. "Don't worry. It will be over soon." Danny said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Don't worry."   
  
Once he was close enough he made a hole in the shield, and pushed a magic circle he had prepared over the boy's eye. Then in the language of the dead he began to chant. "I damn you." His voice was harsh and cold as he started the curse that would seal way the rot demon. "I burn your sins upon your skin; upon you flesh; upon your bones; upon your heart. I damn you. I curse your soul to roam within this world until the end of time. I damn you. You shall be punished for breaking your vows." The lines on the magic talisman glowed dark green and the boy gave a finally scream of pain and the demon's heart was pulled out of his eye-socket and was wrapped tightly inside of the paper.   
  
Danny looked into the boy's remaining eye. The pain was gone. Death had taken him.   
  
This was why demons were feared. This is why exorcists hunted them without mercy. This is why Danny had to fight. The ghostboy had to face it all as he looked down at the dead child's face, the body buried in decay.   
  
But he still had a job to do. More lives were still at risk. He found the pipes for the radioactive waste and followed it up to the main reactor.   
  
It was hot, hot enough to cause Danny true pain and burn off most of his cloths. But the cold within him soon put out the reactor and the world went cold.   
  
'How anticlimactic.' Danny couldn't help but think as he flew back out of the reactor. All worlds are hell. Danny had known that, but who would have thought that a one month vacation from it all could make it drive home all the harder.   
  
Danny flew back and picked up the giant snake before using the infinity key to open himself a gateway back to Mephisto's office. The day's mission, had been completed.


	22. Chapter 22

"I'm back!" Danny shouted as he reentered Mephisto's office, dragging along the frozen snake demon along behind him. He was emotionally and physically tired, not exhausted, but tired. So his fuse was already running short when he spotted Mephisto behind his desk.   
  
The King of Time had his feet kicked up onto the table in a comfortable position as he was paying on a his PSP. Rather than being dressed in his usual clown like suit and cape, he was wearing pajama pants that were covered in anime girl pictures and a shirt that had the word 'moe' written across the chest in large block letters.   
  
"I see, so I just need to keep using my 'costly strikes' and dodge out of the way whenever he tries his stomp attacks." Mephisto said as he clicked the buttons in rapid succession.   
  
A vein popped in Danny head and he jumped over Mephisto's deck, doing a double heel kick to the side of the demon's face, knocking him out of the armchair and into the wall of his office with a loud smack.   
  
"What was that for!?" Mephisto demanded as he held a hand to his now swelling check. Game over music came from Mephisto's hand held and the Demon King began to cry. "No! Kite, stay with me!" He whimpered. "You made me lose to the second stage of the hidden boss battle. How could you be so cruel?"   
  
"Shut up! You made me jump into a nuclear reactor! That hurts like hell!" Danny shouted angrily as he clenched a glowing green fist in front of him.   
  
"Oh yes, your mission. I suppose I sure congratulate you on a job well done." The demon said as he pushed the tears out of his eyes, the bruise on his cheek had already disappeared. He looked over at the froze snake. "Is that really the only witness you managed to take alive? How disappointing." Danny glared at Mephisto, trying to burn holes in him with his glare. "At any rate, I want you to hand over the impure demon's heart."   
  
Danny pulled out the ball covered in a tasiman and tossed it to the demon king. A miasma was still leaking through the paper, slowly destroy the seal that Danny had managed to place on the demon. "An impressive job all things considered, but your powers are ill suited for sealing curses. You can't stop the spread of the decay, only slow it down." But Mephisto snapped his fingers and the thing was suddenly inside of a jar with a few magic circles around it. Danny could no longer sense the thing at all. Its powers were completely sealed away. "Of course it was just an infant among the impure clan. You would have had a much harder time against a higher ranking demon of that clan."   
  
"Just skip to the part where you tell me what this is all about." Danny said sitting down across from the headmaster. "Demons rarely work with others outside of their own clan, let alone outside of their kingdom. It just doesn't happen. Know what’s going on? Who's behind this?"   
  
Mephisto grinned and tapped his fingers together. "So, you're finally getting interested. Good. But that is what I am hoping to find out." Mephisto snapped his fingers and the ice that had been in casing the snake demon disappeared. The snake was still frozen, only now with fear as it looked up into the grinning face of the King of Time. "You are a Suzhen Water Snake, are you not? More than intelligent enough to answer our questions."   
  
'Yes, Lord Samuel.' The snake said with a mental gulp.   
  
"That's good, first things first, take on your more human form." Mephisto said grinning like mad as he glanced at a confused Danny.   
  
The snake nodded and it body began to shift and change until where there was once a snake there was now a middle aged woman with long wavy white and blue hair and yellow serpent's eyes. She had a rather slim body that was completely on display since the transformation had not granted her cloths.   
  
Danny flushed bright red and immediately looked away, to the great amusement of Mephisto who began to laugh. "Oh Phantom, you are such an immature little kid." He teased.   
  
"Sh... shut up. Why aren't you even reacting." Danny said quickly.   
  
"Well, I'm a demon king. I've had hundreds of naked women in bed with me at one time or another." Mephisto said with a shrug. "Though I personally prefer my woman to have bigger breasts." The snake demon put her hands over her flat chest and flushed.   
  
"They... aren't that small..." She mumbled as if her feeling were hurt, though she seemed unconcerned about the fact that she was nude. Maybe it was because she wasn't wearing anything as a snake either.   
  
"Can't you just give her some clothes or something." Danny said still embarrassed.   
  
"You want to put cloths on her? Are you gay or something? Can't we just use barely concealing mist or something?" Mephisto said before sliding to the side to dodge a bullet that was aimed for his head. "Fine, you're no fun." Mephisto snapped his fingers and a bright blue kimono with cloud designs appeared over the snake demon's body, one that was barely long enough to hide everything, but Danny wasn't going to entertain the demon king by pressing the subject further.   
  
The snake demon seemed confused as to what was going on. A ghost was openly attacking and arguing with the King of Time. Was he insane?   
  
"Anyways. Back to the questions." Mephisto said leaning back in his seat. "And I believe you know better than to try to lie to me. So, question number one. Who do you work for?"   
  
The snake turned woman flinched under Mephisto's glare. "I... I was lured into this world with the promise of a body by... Baldr." The snake said not daring to move. Mephisto's mouth twitched.   
  
"Who's Baldr?" Danny asked the King of Time.   
  
"I whiny little momma's boy, and a show off." Mephisto said with a shrug. "He is a demon of light who the ancient Nords believed was the god of Light and Purity. The demon is next to immortal, immune to almost everything. He must still be mad at me for killing him that one time."   
  
"You killed him... yeah people tend to hold grudges about little things like that." Danny said raising an eyebrow.   
  
"I don't understand why he's so mad about it, he got better." Mephisto said rather off handedly. "So Baldr attacked the Holy Land of the Otaku in order to get back at me. That is childish, even for him. Tell me, what was his real objective?"   
  
"He wished to... discredit all of the higher ranking exorcists." The snake said.   
  
"No dud, but from what?" Mephisto demanded.   
  
"I... I've already said too much." The demon mumbled, gulping as Mephisto's glare became stronger. The Demon King got up, his hands beginning to leak an onyx fire as he walked towards the snake demon. But Danny got between them and made a show of trying to calm Mephisto down.   
  
"Wow, Mephisto, just chill and let me handle this." Danny said before turning to the demon. "You should probably just tell him. Or else there is no telling what he might do to you, he's crazy." Danny whispered to the woman, playing good cop bad cop. "Listen, you need to just tell him what he wants to know. Since you didn't kill anyone yourself, I can try to get you off easy, but you've got to work with me here."   
  
The snake demon looked for Danny to Mephisto and back to Danny before nodding. "We... we were never told directly why were we there, but I over heard Baldr talking to a... a human about breaking two people out of an exorcists' prison." The snake demon paused for a second before saying. "I think they called them, the Fentons."   
  
Even as a ghost, Danny managed to pale at this statement. But Mephisto had broken into laugher. "Well well, isn't this an interesting turn of events!" He chuckled. "Well then, that is all the information we required. So what shall we do with you."   
  
Even as Danny blinked Mephisto appeared beside them brandishing a long blood red spear that he was preparing to drive through the demon. Danny's eyes widened and he parried the strike. "What are you doing?" Danny demanded from Mephisto. The snake demon fell back to the floor and returned to his snake form, out of shock, slithering out of the kimono.   
  
"I would think that would be obvious. I'm going to destroy her completely so that our enemies will never know just how much we know." Mephisto said, preparing the spike again. "Don't act so surprised. It wasn't like we could have allowed her to walk away anyways."   
  
"Killing her is going a little too far don't you think? We don't have any proof that she is a continuing threat. Sending her back to Gehenna is one thing, but that isn't what that spear does." Danny said, eyeing the dark ripples that moved along the spikes surface.   
  
"If we send her back to Gehenna then we have no guarantee that she will not report back to our enemies." Mephisto said, grinning like a madman. "You are fairly quick to protect a demon, for a exorcist." But Mephisto did lower the spike and let it disappear before setting his eyes on the snake again. "But... if you really feel so strongly about it. Then why not make the demon your familiar." Danny stiffened at the words. "I do need one to replace an old tomcat that ran off with Okumura this morning. So if bind the snake to your will, it will be allowed to live."   
  
Danny looked over at the demon who was still terrified. "It is your chose; death or a life of servitude." The demon paused before nodding.   
  
'I will serve you.' It said calmly, though Danny could hear a certain level of sadness in its thoughts.   
  
Mephisto provided all the materials need to perform the ceremony, and Danny bound the snake to serve him as his familiar, contracted to never speak to anyone about what happened to it before that day and to guard the campus's south entrance.   
  
Mephisto grinned to himself as Danny finally left the room to return to the dorms before pulling out his phone. "Hello, Exorcist Shop. I need four swords made of mistletoe... Yes, mistletoe... Yes, I know it isn't a very sturdy material... Thank you." Mephisto said before hanging up.   
  
"You've seen again the cruel truth of this world that you mindlessly observe. A world where any demon who is unfortunate enough to earn the attention of an entity more powerful than itself have only two choices; servitude, or death. A horrible choice for any to be forced to make, but I wonder, how much does his own freedom mean to the young ghostboy. And more over, how much does his friends life compare to it?" Mephisto said to no one in particular as he picked back up his gaming device. "Danny might have gotten this far, but do you think he can defeat a Demon King? Especially without revealing your own demon heart?" Mephisto hit the continue option. "My trials are all about to begin."


	23. Chapter 23

In... and out... Rin simply tried to keep his breathing steady as he sat in the middle of the training room floor with his legs crossed in front of him. His eyes following the nearly perfect blue butterfly that fluttered around in front of him. A butterfly made completely from his own flames. its wings shimmered in the slightest disturbance in the air, so fragile.  
  
Then something splatted against the side of Rin's face. The butterfly flickering as Rin's concentration momentarily shifted, but he managed to regain his control. That is... until another hit him... and another.   
  
Danny was sitting a fair distance away shooting paper spit balls through a drinking straw at the son of Satan. After six shots, Rin finally snapped.   
  
"Knock it off!" He screamed as the butterfly exploded, sending blue fire everywhere. Then Rin gave a shout of frustration and scratched his head with both hands will clenching his eyes closed.   
  
"You need to learn self control under stress." Danny said with a sigh.   
  
"Hey! I can control my flames just fine now, as long as you aren't messing with me will I do it!" Rin growled angrily.   
  
"So as long as you are in a calm environment it is no problem." Danny said shaking his head. "Rin, you will never need your flames when you are in a calm environment. When you are out in the field as an exorcist, and someone's life is on the line, you are going to be stressed out and angry. Just imagine if Shiemi was taken hostage, and you have to rescue her. Can you tell me right now that you would be able to control your flame enough to not hurt her?"   
  
"Wh... well I..." Rin deflated a bit as he thought about it.   
  
Danny leaned back. "The way you are now, you'll be fine, even once your Demon Heart fully awakens. At least while you just sitting around with your friends, but I can't make any promises if you ever get into a serious brawl. Your emotions get the better of you too quickly." Danny said simply. "Not only that, but your demonic power is too strong. You can't even hide your tail."   
  
"What are you talking about, I'm always hiding my tail when I am out in public." Rin said a little indignantly.   
  
"That isn't what I meant." Danny said as he stood up and went to a large black board he had installed in the room. "Demons have three levels of realization in this world. The first is simple possession, where the demon takes control of a vessel and sees and moves around through it, but the vessel doesn't hold any of its powers or gain any of the demon's characteristics." Danny said as he draw a human shape and then shaded in the eyes.   
  
"The next level is when the demon starts to channel the power of its heart into the vessel, causing it to gain the demons characteristics; size, shape, ears, tail, etc." Danny said drawing some of the named things onto the drawing. "You always have rather pointy ears and a tail. This is because you can't stop your demon heart from sending power into your body. If you could, then your tail with disappear."   
  
"Oh I get it." Rin said with a wide grin. But then he stopped. "What's the third level? Is it some kind of super form?" He asked with stars in his eyes.   
  
Danny chuckled a bit. "You could say that. Only really high rank demons can do the third level, but they rarely ever do, unless you really make them made." Danny draw a heart over the human body's chest. "The third level is when the demon pulls its heart out of Gehenna and into Assiah. Allowing it to fully realize itself in this world." Danny's eyes flicked over to Rin's sword. "That is what happens whenever you draw your sword. The demon heart that is inside of it get moved from within Gehenna into this world."   
  
"Wow, so I'm so super strong cool half demon?" Rin said grinning as he totted his own horn a little.   
  
"Or a savage animal. One or the other." Danny said with a shrug that earned him a hard glare from the older half demon. "Oh come on, you are the son of Satan after all, so don't give me that look."   
  
"Well, can you call your demon heart here?" Rin asked him, a little curious about his teacher.   
  
Danny's grin slid off of his face. "N...no. I can't." Danny said, looking away from Rin. Rin looked at him with a confused expression, almost sure that Danny was lying, but moments later his lecture continued. "And even though all high class demons can do it, most of them won't, not even as a last resort."   
  
"Why's that?" Rin asked. "If it makes them stronger, then why wouldn't they want to use it?"   
  
"Because if a demon is killed while their heart is in Assiah, then that is it. They don't go back to Gehenna, they are dead. Forever. So doing it is the demon version of gambling with your soul." Danny said simply. "You don't really have to worry about that problem as much, since if you die then you wouldn't go to Gehenna either way. An advantage that we half demons have over normal demons in a fight. We have everything to lose, so we go all out."   
  
"I can't believe you just implied that immortality is a weakness." Rin laughed.   
  
"Immortals are all idiots. It is a weakness." Danny said rolling his eyes. But the bell began to ring for the end of specialized lessons. "Alright, put your sword and tail away and head out to your next class. Your homework is to try to cut an apple in half with only your flames. You're dismissed."   
  
"Alright, see you back at the dorms, Teach." Rin said as a sort of joke before he sheathed his sword and started to head out.   
  
Danny watched him go before sighing and picking up his own bag. He walked out of the room and started towards the main exit, not using the keys to just connect to the dorm. He wasn't going back there anyways.   
  
Danny walked out near the south bridge of the city, right were his new familiar was being put to work as a guard. "How's it going?" Danny asked the snake demon.   
  
She had been wrapped around a lamp post on the closest side of the bridge looking out towards the empty road as she stood guard. But at the sound of Danny's voice her tongue flicked in and out before she turned to look at him.   
  
'And what are you doing here... Master.' The snake said almost bitterly.   
  
"Thought you might want something to eat." Danny said pulling out a fish he had caught earlier, laying down in from of the snake.   
  
'Are you suggesting I cannot feed myself?' The demon demanded. Danny guessed that if it could, then it would have been glaring at him.   
  
"Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." Danny apologized before turning away and sitting down with his back turned to her. A few moments passed before the snake demon unhinged its jaw and swallowed the fish whole. "You still haven't told me your name yet."   
  
'You have yet to demand it.' The snake said turning her head away. 'Do not think that your mercy will have made me forget what you are. Exorcists cannot be trusted. Never.'   
  
"I know what you mean." Danny said to the snake's surprise. "You can believe me when I say that I never wanted to be an exorcist. It’s something I've more or less been forced into."   
  
'Bai. My name is Bai.' The snake finally introduced itself. 'Yours?'   
  
"Danny Fenton. Though the demons usually know me as Phantom." Danny said leaning back against the railing of the bridge. "I don't suppose you would be willing to tell me why you were trying to get into Assiah?"   
  
The snake scoffed. 'Why does any demon come to Assiah? To spread fear and despair among the humans.' Bai said with a hiss. 'Isn't that what the True Cross Order teach you?'   
  
"Something like that, but I know that's a load of bull. So why don't you tell me the real reason? You don't seem like the murdering type. You went out of your way not to disturb the bodies of the dead back at the power plant." Danny stated his earlier observations.   
  
Bai was silent for a few seconds before answering. 'I hate exorcists... but that does not mean I hate all humans.' She said slowly. 'Around four hundred years ago, I was living in eastern China. And I fell in love with a human man.' The snake demon began her story. 'It was rough going at first, but even with our differences, we got married and began our own family. Though it was unusual for my kind to settle down and care for our young, those were the happiest years of my existence.'   
  
Danny could hear the longing in the snakes thoughts. The wish to return to that time. 'But then an exorcist came. A Buddhist monk who thought that our union was evil. He kidnapped my husband, and injured several of our children before fleeing to a temple.' The snake said bitterly. 'I went to the temple, and I summoned up a flood to drown all the monks who stood between me and my husband. I had only wanted to have him back... but after that, the Knights of the True Cross came. And they killed my husband and exorcised me back to Gehenna.'   
  
"That's awful." Danny said closing his eyes. "But vengeance isn't going to make you feel any better. The humans that did that are long gone. Passed away hundreds of years ago."   
  
'Yes, I know. But I didn't come here for vengeance. I wish to find my descendants. The proof that my and Xu's love really was true. I wanted to become their guardian and watch over them as the years passed.' The snake said wishfully. 'That was my wish, exorcist. That is why I accepted Baldr's offer for a way into Assiah. But it doesn't matter now. Now I am bound to you. I am your slave.'   
  
"I'm sorry." Danny mumbled again. "Once Mephisto settles his problems with Baldr, I'll talk to him about releasing you. Or at least into helping find your descendants."   
  
The snake stared at Danny. 'Why are you doing all this? What do you gain from helping me? I am a demon, and you are an exorcist. Peace cannot exist between our kinds.'   
  
"But I'm also part demon." Danny said as he got up and stretched a bit. "And there are demons that I owe my life to. How saved me out of their own selfless desire to help. I'm just doing the same." Danny turned and started to walk away. "Well, I'll see you later. I'm supposed to teach a lesson on the importance of sleeping with a gun under your pillow." Danny mumbled as he waved goodbye.   
  
'What an odd child.' Bai thought as she watched the boy go. 'Half breads... I wonder if any of my children grew up to be like him.'


	24. Chapter 24

The cram school students were gathering around the front entrance of 'Mephy Land' a Mephisto themed amusement park and Danny's new imagining of what hell must be like, as he looked around at all the statues and balloons that cared the Time King's likeness. The ghost boy pushed down on the puff of blue mist that struggled to make its way out of his mouth as the day's mission objective for the Exwires moved around within the park.   
  
"So, what did you guys do for your first missions?" Rin asked as they sat out front waiting for the girls to arrive.   
  
"I had to clean out the Leaper's cage." Konekomaru mumbled.   
  
"I had to take a sample of Bariyoshi to Tamagawa." Bon said a little depress.   
  
"I was stuck carrying supplies to Yamaoku." Renzo said, seeming more relaxed about it than the other two.   
  
"We've only just become Exwires. So it can't be helped that all we get are these sorts of missions." Bon said a little depressed about it.   
  
"They weren't missions, they were just odd jobs." Renzo pointed out.   
  
Then the three stopped as they heard Rin laughing. "Well then I'm one step ahead of you guys. I got to beat a demon!" Rin declared.   
  
"What the hell?" Bon said giving him a disbelieving look.   
  
"Plus, after that, I got to make it my familiar." Rin bragged.   
  
Alright then, let's see you summon it now." Bon said not believing a word Rin said.   
  
"Huh...? I left it at the dormitory's." Rin said realizing that he couldn't summon Kuro.   
  
"Oh, you left it at the dormitory's. Yeah right." Bon said rolling his eyes.   
  
"Hey! I'm not lying! You can asked Jazz, she saw me do it!" Rin shouted angrily. Then he turned to Danny who was sitting nearby. "Danny! Tell them I made Kuro my familiar!"   
  
"Huh? Oh yeah, he's got a cat as a familiar now." Danny mumbled as he looked over a spreadsheet, doing his best to not look up at the statue of Mephisto. Each of them wondered what Danny's first mission had been, since his exorcist's jacket had been burned to the point where it was rather short when he just wore it around his waist. Danny had never bothered to get a knew one after the power plant incident, though that did mean he was wearing radioactive cloths. "Sorry Bon Bon. You just move too slow. Rin's probably going to beat you to being an exorcist."   
  
"Don't call me that!" Bon shouted angrily before leaning back again.   
  
"Alright now settle down, Bon. We'll just change the subject." Shima said as he patted down his friend. He noticed the two mystery students out of the corner of his eye.   
  
"I still can't believe that the Director made those guys friggin' Exwires." Bon said as he glared at them.   
  
"You know, there's a chance they're putting in the effort when we aren't watching." Renzo said to his overly angry friend.   
  
"What!? What do you mean when we ain't watchin'!? They should be doin' it in front of us!" Bon shouted angrily.   
  
"Come on Bon Bon. I'd say they are just as helpful as you are." Danny said, pushing the blond haired boy's buttons.   
  
"Speaking of which, how the hell are you an instructor!" Bon shouted angrily.   
  
"I don't know, I think he's actually a pretty good instructor." Rin said scratching his head. "That lesson he gave on healthy paranoia was pretty good."   
  
"He just yelled at us for twenty minute for not carrying around weapons with us at all times! How the hell am I supposed to walk around with a rocket launcher in public, or recite sutras in my sleep!?" Bon demanded.   
  
"If you were as smart as you say you are, then you would be able to find a way." Danny said, grinning to himself. He had a lot of fun that day.   
  
"Just forget about it Bon... Aren't the girls kind of late?" Konekomaru said, trying to stop the oncoming fight. One that Danny would have won.   
  
"My students, girls will always be late for a date to the amusement park. It's one of the many facts of life." Danny said, shaking his head.   
  
"Da...date?" Rin said to himself wide eyed.   
  
"Sorry!" The boys turned their heads as they heard Shiemi's familiar apology, but they all went a little wide eyed as they saw Shiemi running toward them in a school uniform rather than her usual kimono. Izumo and Jazz right behind her.   
  
"Shi...Shiemi!? What happened to your kimono!?" Rin said, trying to fight down a blush.   
  
"Well, since my kimono isn't really suitable for missions... the Director provided me with a uniform. We're late because Kamiki, Paku, and Jazz were teaching me how to wear it." Shiemi said.   
  
"Why did I have too..?" Izumo grumbled a little.   
  
"It was a good bonding experience." Jazz said trying to pretend she hadn't heard Izumo's comment. Her arms was still in a cast, but it would be coming off in just a few days.   
  
"It looks a bit weird, right?" Shiemi asked, a bit embarrassed that the guys were staring at here.   
  
"No not at all." "You like really cute..." "It suits you." The three monks said, surprising feeling no shame.   
  
Rin leaned over to Danny. "Is it just me, or is that shirt way too short on her?" He asked.   
  
"It came from Mephisto. Of course it’s too short." Danny said swallowing a little and looking away.   
  
"Mr. Fenton, I would like to remind you that you are an instructor." Yukio said adjusting his glasses.   
  
"What? I'm just saying that the boss is messed up. I'm not commenting about any of my students in a negative light... except Bon, but that's only because it’s funny." Danny said defensively.   
  
"Besides, it's not like you weren't staring at her boo..." Rin started, but before he could finish Yukio hit I’m in the face with his clip board. "That hurt Four Eyes!" Rin shouted angrily as he clutched at his nose.   
  
Danny chuckled but decided to get things underway. "Since we are here, I'll divide you into groups for today's assignment... Bon Bon and Yamada." Danny said smiling to himself as Bon trembled with anger at being assigned to a 'dead weight'. "Rin Okumura and Moriyama... Jazz Fenton and Kamiki... and then Miwa, Shima and Takara will be our group of three."   
  
"We're together, Rin." Shiemi said happily.   
  
"Oh... great!" Rin said trying to act cool.   
  
"What!? Why does only Rin get to be paired with a girl!?" Renzo demanded.   
  
"Because I was picking the groups and none of you are going to be left alone with my sister." Danny said with a shrug. Izumo let out a sigh of relief that she wasn't going to be paired up with any of the boys.   
  
"No way..." Renzo cried weakly to himself.   
  
"Alright everyone, this time we are at the True Cross Academy's Amusement Park... nicknamed 'Mephy Land', in order to deal with the witness and damage reports of a ghost inside here." Yukio said as he took over. "All the exwires have been recruited to help find it." He looked over at all of them. "Can anyone tell me the definition of a 'ghost'..? Go ahead Kamiki."   
  
"A ghost is a demon who possesses material objects from human or animal corpses and turns turn them into vapor." Izumo started to give the textbook example of a ghost. "Naturally, their characters are influenced by the feelings that the host had when they were alive."   
  
"Thank you, Ms. Kamiki. This ghost is the type that isn't tied down to one location, and has been witnessed all over the park. It has the appearance of a 'small little boy'. For now he seems to only be yanking on people’s arms and flipping skirts." Yukio said reading from his report.   
  
"Flipping skirts? How childish... oh what, it is a child." Renzo mumbled.   
  
"...However, if we leave it unattended as it is, there is a chance that it may become evil and dangerous." Yukio finished. "Your job is to try and find it. Scatter throughout the park and comb the area. If you find it, call either mine or Fenton's mobile phones immediately."   
  
"With this many people it should take any time at all. So let’s go!" Bon shouted to try to motivate them as they all went into the park.   
  
"Man they are in for so much disappointment." Danny said with a sigh. "It's kind of funny how sad this is going to be."   
  
"You're not being very professional." Yukio said strictly.   
  
Danny shrugged. "The best why for them to learn these kinds of things is through hard real world experience. Something just can't be taught in the classroom." Danny said looking over at Yukio. "Like controlling fire." Yukio froze. "Your brother's flames are under control, but we won't know how he will react in an high stakes situation until it happens. Meaning field work against real threats. Not heartbroken house cats."   
  
"But if something does go wrong, then that is the opposite of where we want my brother!" Yukio growled, losing his professional cool.   
  
"Sounds like someone needs to take my lesson on Murphy's laws. Something will happen, the only questions are what, where, and when." Danny said as he fell against the park bench at the entrance, looking up at the sky.   
  
He frowned as he thought he had sensed something. He turned and scanned the nearby buildings that surrounded the park, but he couldn't find it again. "Must have just been my imagination." He mumbled as he flipped onto his side and prepared to get some sleep.   
  
Yukio glared down at the sleeping half demon. He was the kind of person that the boy just couldn't stand. He had raw talent. He succeeded so easily at things without have to put in any effort at all. And to top it all off, he was a demon that didn't hesitate to use his powers. The fact that his brother was in this boy's hands made him sick. "I will protect my big brother... even from you." He muttered to himself as he went off to fill out the paperwork. Leaving Danny to himself.   
  


* * *

 

  
"So, our little brother and the one that beat big brother Pariah are over there?" Amaimon asked Mephisto as they observed the amusement park from a safe distance.   
  
"That's right. I've been having a hard time getting our youngest brother to show me his full strength. So I want you to go and get to know each other a little better." Mephisto said with a smile as he watched his younger brother, Amaimon, the King of Earth, biting his nail as he stared off towards the park with unblinking eyes. "It’s good to see your interested." Mephisto said as he looked over there himself. "You're first real trial is about to began, my young exorcists. Eins... Zwei... Drei..."


	25. Chapter 25

Rin was finding next to impossible to concentrate on the task at hand and he walked along side Shiemi through the park, staying just two steps behind her.  
  
How was he supposed to keep an eye out for a ghost when the girl of his dreams was standing right in front of him, her short pink shirt bouncing with every step she took, each time just barely not revealing the color of the unmentionables underneath. Her hair shifting in the wind, so that he could still see the cute smile she showed the world as she looked around in amazement at her surroundings. And her chest... well he wasn't about to go there.   
  
"Rin... are you with me?" Shiemi asked jogging the love struck half demon out of his trance.   
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Rin said blushing as he tried and failed to look away from her.   
  
"Okay then, can you look on the right side, while I search the left?" Shiemi asked.   
  
"Sure thing." Rin said grinning and looking the right. But his eyes kept wandering back to the girl. 'The two of us... together... at an amusement park...' Rin couldn't help but think, remembering what Danny had said about dates. 'This is kind of like a date.' He thought slowing down so that the distance between them got bigger and he could have a better look. 'She really does look good in that uniform.   
  
As they existed the alley and up to one of the roller coaster, Shiemi let out a 'wow' as she looked up at it. Her expressing even more childish than usual. Noticing Rin staring she flushed, misunderstanding his look. "The trust is... I've always wanted to go to an amusement park, ever since I was a little girl." Shiemi admitted weakly. "But back then I couldn't handle being around lots of people, so places like this were out of the question." She took a look around longingly. "Everything must be so lively and fun when it’s open."   
  
Rin kicked his heels a bit as he started to work of the courage to ask her the great question. "Then... why don't we come and hang out here together... when it’s open." Rin said, trying to fight down his blush as he asked the girl out.   
  
"Yeah." Shiemi said with a wide smile. Not understanding that Rin wanted to go as more than just friends.   
  
But Rin didn't care, he grinned like an idiot. "Are... are you sure!?" He asked, just incase he misheard.   
  
"Yep! Let's go for sure!" Shiemi said with a nod.   
  
"Alright then! Where should we look next!?" Rin asked as he pulled out the map, feeling the warmth of the blond girl as she moved in close to look at the map with him. He was in heaven standing there with her under the sign for the roller-coaster, which read 'go to hell'.

 

* * *

 

Danny was trying his best to go to sleep. But the location was making it impossible for him. Damn Mephisto. Surely the Demon King knew what amusement parks meant to the ghost boy. The memories they would bring up.  
  
After all, it was a place just like this one where he had fallen in love. And it was that love that he turned him so sour to exorcists.   
  
Valerie Grey. A ghost hunter, an obsessed exorcist who had blamed Danny's ghost half for everything bad that had ever happened to her after an out of control Cujo rampaged through her father's work in the time before Danny was Cujo's master, an incident that cost her father his job.   
  
Valerie Grey. A young hot headed African American girl, a woman who won Danny's heart back when he had been a part-time ghost fighter in the states. Their first date had been at the amusement park. Everything had gone so well. But everything ended up so horrible.   
  
Danny had believed that she would understand. He had been so sure that she was the one. He had never imagined the consequences for revealing his ghostly half to her. But the moment he had shown his tail, she had turned on his. She had tried everything to kill him, and in a accident, she triggered a building to fall down on her head. She had died before Danny could reach her. And in death he could feel the fear of him rolling off of her in waves. Down to the core of her soul, she wanted him destroyed.   
  
Danny would never trust an exorcist again. They may claim to be soldiers for peace, but they were just heartless monsters who would hunt down any demon they come across. He had to learn that the hard way.   
  
But Rin wanted to become an exorcist. Despite his demon blood, or maybe even because of it, Rin wished to become one of the soldiers who hunted his kind. A member of an organization that would certainly turn on him in the years to come. One that would condemn him to death for simply being born.   
  
But Danny had quickly learned a few things about Rin Okumura. Mostly that he was as thick headed and naive as they come. He had to learn everything through personal experience. In that regard, he was a lot like Danny.   
  
The others would abandon Rin. Danny was not merely guessing at that. It was the simple truth in his eyes. They would see his power, and they would be afraid of him. And as exorcists, they would wish the destruction of whatever they are afraid of.   
  
Danny would do whatever it took to stop that from ever happening. He didn't want for Rin to have to look into Shiemi's eyes, only to see fear and hatred. He would make sure that Rin never had to experience that himself. Even if it cost him his own secrets.   
  
Though Danny was an optimist, which was the reason for this particular mission. To see what the students would do when confronted with a ghost.   
  
Ghost could be handled one of two ways. The first and most obvious, it to destroy their vessel, causing the demon that created it to be sent back to Gehenna. The other was to help the ghost complete its unfinished business so that it could 'pass on'.   
  
To most exorcists, the difference between the two is that it is simply more time consuming to help the ghost pass on, so they just destroy it. Both had the end result that was the same. But in Danny's eyes the choose was the same as the difference between killing someone and letting them pass away peacefully in bed.   
  
It was going to be Danny's test for the would be exorcists. Would they help the simple child, or destroy it?

 

* * *

 

Rin had been walking around the park for a little while with Shiemi with not the slightest sighting of anything out of the ordinary. Not that he was complaining. The longer it took, the longer he got to hang out alone with Shiemi.  
  
But as he passed the '4D theater' he started to 'hear' someone crying, or something. "That voice." Rin murmured as he walked towards the direction he felt the crying coming from.   
  
"Hm? Rin, where are you going?" Shiemi asked as she chased after the boy.   
  
"Its this way. Come on." Rin said as he walked underneath an arch and stopped in front of a merry-go-round. That’s where he saw it. The ghost of a little boy sitting on one of the horses, crying to itself.   
  
"Wow, Rin! How'd you know it was here?" Shiemi asked as she stopped right next to the older Okumura boy.   
  
"Uh... I've got a gift? It's not important." Rin said trying not to reveal anything about him. He felt a small sting of guilt. He didn't like lying, but he was being forced to do it more and more in order to hide his identity as the spawn of Satan. But he pushed the feeling down. After all, it wasn't really a lie, was it?   
  
He did have a gift for hearing demons. Danny said something about having inherited Satan's flames giving him qualities of all the different types of demons. But Rin didn't really understand it.   
  
"What's wrong...? Why are you crying?" Shiemi asked the ghost child as he looked over at them with big teary eyes.   
  
"Hey, you shouldn't talk to demons." Rin hissed to the girl.   
  
"Oh... yeah but... he's just a little boy." Shiemi said sadly. She couldn't help but think how tragic it was so the boy to die so young.   
  
But Rin's thoughts were elsewhere. He was thinking about the 'war stories' that Danny had told him a bit about. Even the ghost of a child could become extremely dangerous.   
  
He gave the boy a once over look. He seemed to only be around six or seven years old wearing pajamas, with blond hair. His hands hadn't developed fingers and his legs were replaced by the spectral tail that many spirit class demons had. Rin remembered Danny explaining that ghosts' tails were not as big of a weakness as the tails of other demons since they were formed from mist and it was the ghost that controlled whether or not it could be touched, leaving them with one less weakness than your average demon in a brawl.   
  
In fact, ghosts in general were immune to physical attacks unless caught off guard. Sure with his flames, Rin would be able to handle one no problem, but he didn't have his flames, at least not while he was so out in the open. Spells and certain demon weapons and blessed iron, as well as strong miasma's could have a physical impact on a ghost, but none of that did Rin any good.   
  
Rin was trying to figure out what to do, but all the crying was getting on his nerves. He had always hated crying. Yukio had done it a lot when they were kids, and it made Rin feel powerless. "Would you shut up with all that blabbering already!?" Rin shouted angry, but that only made it worse.   
  
"Rin!? You don't have to yell at him like that!" Shiemi scolded the demon boy.   
  
"Oh... I'm sorry." Rin said rubbing the back of his had. He was no good with kids while they were crying. Actually he wasn't all that great with people in general while they were crying or having emotional problems. Why couldn't everything just be solved by punching it?   
  
Rin was brought out of his misgivings when the ghost flew straight up to Shiemi and buried it head in his chest. "I was sick for a really long time. My mummy and daddy promised me... that if I gots better, that I could come to this amusement park and play... but I died... and now... and now... I can't play with anyone anymore!"   
  
The ghost continued to cry. Rin and Shiemi both looked down at the ghost with pity in their eyes. "I see... you must've been lonely, huh?" Shiemi said patting the boy's head.   
  
'Ghosts had all the emotions and feelings of the people they were born from. So didn't they also deserve to be treated the same?' Rin thought as he watched the boy.   
  
Though that thought didn't last long as a mischievous smile spread over the ghost's face. "Shut up, Hag!" The ghost shouted as it grabbed Shiemi's breasts, causing the girl to blush bright red. "Idiots!.." The child shouted as it flew away laughing.   
  
Rin's jaw was slack for a few seconds until what had just happened registered with him. "What the hell!" He roared as he went sprinting full speed after the ghost. "You brat! Get back here!" 'I wanted to touch them!' Was what the half demon was shouting inside of his own head.   
  
The two exorcists in training gave chase, but the demon was slippery and they lost sight of him. "Where did that perverted brat go!" Rin shouted as he looked in every direction after he and Shiemi stopped underneath one of the statues of Mephisto.   
  
"I'll go look over there." Shiemi said pointing towards the house of mirrors.   
  
"Alright, but be careful." Rin said remembering that he was supposed to call Yukio and Danny after finding the ghost. He pulled out his phone and started to dial the number. It rang twice as Rin stood there tapping his foot impatiently, but before the call was answered he felt his sword being pulled off his back.   
  
"What the!?" Rin shouted as he whipped around to see a boy who looked like he was about seventeen standing on top of the statue of Mephisto holding Rin's Demon Sword. "Hey, who the hell are you! And give that back!"   
  
'Never let it leave your side.' Those had been some of his old man's last words to Rin. And they echoed inside of the boy's head, fueling his desire to reclaim his sword.   
  
"Me? Oh yes. I'm Amaimon." The boy said as he moved a lollipop around in his mouth. He had black hair with a greenish tint that had a solitary spike in the middle of the top of his head. He was wearing oddly colored though semi formal shirt, vest and tie with a black trench coat filled with holes over it and looked down at Rin with a halfway vacant expression as he talked, seeming to try to figure out if he should be interested or not. "I'm a Prince of Demons. I'm something similar to your older brother. Nice to meet you."   
  
"Wha..." Rin's mind was going into shock as he watched the demon take the cloth cover off of the Koumaken, the fallen demon sword, and grabbed a hold of its handle and sheath.   
  
"Hm... so this is the Koumaken. I wonder if ya know what kinda device this is." Amaimon said, not even looking at Rin himself.   
  
"Stop it!" Rin shouted, but it was too late, the demon drew the sword and his flames burst from his body, his ears extending and fire forming into horns even as his tail broke free from his pants. Rin's fire was on display for all to see.

 

* * *

 

  
  
Danny was a bit confused. He looked down at his phone seeing that he had one missed call from Rin. "Wonder why he hung up." Danny mumbled but then he felt not one, but two massive demons within the park, and one of them was the unsealed Rin Okumura. Danny jumped from his seat and ran full speed into the park.   
  
"Where are you going!?" Yukio shouted but Danny was in too much of a hurry to hear him. He had to put a stop to everything, before Rin was discovered.


	26. Chapter 26

"Give it back!" Rin roared as he lunged towards Amaimon, smashing the head off the statue of Mephisto as the Demon King of Earth dodged a kick that was aimed straight for him.   
  
"Oh, big brother isn't going to be happy about that." Amaimon said as he dropped the Koumaken's sheath, holding the flaming blue katana in his right hand in a relaxed manner.   
  
"What do you want!? What's your objective!?" Rin demanded of his half brother.   
  
"Objective? I was just bored and thought that playing around with you might help entertain me." Amaimon said flicking aside the stick to his lollipop.   
  
"huh?" Rin said not believing what he was hearing. Why would a Demon King come all the way out there just to play around.   
  
"I've been studying up on your Japanese games." Amaimon said proudly before starting to clap his hands. "Oni-saaan over here... towards the clapping sound!" He shouted as he did a dance and shaked his butt at Rin.   
  
"Stop fucking around!" Rin shouted, lunging at the demon. "Don't underestimate me!"   
  
Amaimon took a step forward, passed Rin's outstretched arm, and gave him a strong flick to the forehead with his free left hand. Rin was launched backwards into the ground hard enough to crack the concrete. "I think it is you who shouldn't underestimate me. Try to show me why big brother and father are so interested in you." Amaimon said pulling out another lollipop as Rin pulled himself up, his flames even more wild than ever.   
  


* * *

 

"What up!" Shiemi cried as she ran after the ghost child. Tripping and falling as she went. "This isn't a game of tag you know!"   
  
"Hahahaaa! You idiot! Try and catch me if you can!" The ghost laughed back over its shoulder at the girl.   
  
"This really is just a game of tag to him." Shiemi thought out loud with a little chuckle. But she was back on her feet and chased him into the house of mirrors. If it was a game he wanted, then it was a game he was going to get.   
  
They were both completely unaware of the battle taking place right outside.   
  


* * *

 

Izumo and Jazz did see the bright blue lights of the battle being waged between Rin and Amaimon. "What is that?" Izumo asked, staring wide eyed at the roller coaster that was being pulled apart.   
  
"Oh no, Rin!" Jazz shouted before running towards the area.   
  
"What, don't run towards it! Oh jeez!" Izumo said to herself before chasing after the older girl.

 

* * *

 

"Dammit!" Rin growled. They had already smashed a good deal of the 'Go to Hell Roller Coaster', and Rin was getting pretty knocked up. Blood was running into his eyes and his head hurt like hell, but all he could do was stare at the azure sword that rested in the Demon's hands. He had to get it back. He had promised his father that he would never let it go. And he didn't want to be a liar.   
  
But all these head injuries were starting to remind him of his training with Danny. 'You can't just keep charging me like this.' Danny had said.   
  
'But the object if for me to hit you! How am I supposed to do that if I don't come at you!' Rin had shouted back as he had pulled himself off of the ground.   
  
'You're starting to get the point of this lesson. You can't win.' Danny had said with a smug smile. 'If you opponent can just wait for you to come to them, then you are at a huge disadvantage. So if you want to beat them, you need to stay collected and use your flames from more than just punching and slashing.'   
  
Danny had been right. Rin was being forced to charge Amaimon again and again, and he wasn't going to be able to win that way. So Rin took a few deep breaths and straightened up.   
  
"You know, you're pretty boring." Rin said faking a yawn.   
  
Amaimon blinked rapidly and tilted his head. "Huh? I'm boring?"   
  
"Well yeah! I mean what kind of 'prince of demons' just runs away all the time. I'm guessing you're really the princess of worms and you're just too embarrassed to admit it." Rin taunted the Demon King of Earth.   
  
Amaimon's right eye twitched a bit from being insulted. "Oh? I was holding off so that this could last longer. But if you want to die. Then I would be more than happy to oblige."   
  
Amaimon rushed towards Rin, but the half demon was ready for him. Rin let off a large flare of his blue flames from his hand, completely cutting off visibility for the other demon as the blue light filled the area.   
  
Rin jumped to the side so that that Amaimon went past him, and after feeling that the older demon had passed him by he turned and jumped at Amaimon's presence, grabbing onto his back and forced him to the ground.   
  
Unfortunately, that was as far as Rin's planning stage had gotten, and everything was working out a lot better than he had hoped already. So letting his demon instincts do the thinking for him, he bit down on Amaimon's right shoulder, sending his flames into him through the bite.   
  
"Hey! Stop that!" Amaimon shouted, surprisingly unconcerned that he was being bitten by a fiery half bread. He started to rollover and then elbowed Rin in the gut hard enough to start an earthquake. Rin gave something that was between a gasp and a moan and his grip on Amaimon loosened to the point where the demon could slip free.   
  
"That wasn't very nice of you. Don't you know that it isn't polite to bite someone." Amaimon said as he started stomping repeatedly on Rin's face. With each hit, Rin felt himself starting to lose consciousness and go dark. "I don't get it. Why are father and brother so interested in this one? Maybe I should check if the other one is more fun?"   
  
But before Amaimon could move he found a strong grip around his ankle and was thrown straight through a nearby wall and out to where the fight had started, just below the now headless statue of Mephisto.   
  
Rin climbed back to his feet, his flames burning bright than ever. The demon boy gave a roar of pure rage and jumped out onto Amaimon, pinning him to the ground and completely engulfing him in flames that could burn away the very soul of those they touched.   
  
"Wow, now that's the spirit!" Amaimon laughed as Rin tried to choke him. Amaimon liked what he was seeing. Rin was completely berserk. He had even forgot about the sword in his blinding rage. The flames were so intense that they were burning away some of Amaimon's skin off his face.   
  
But Rin was dragged back to reality when he heard a familiar scream. His head turned and he saw broken pieces of the roller coaster that were further jarred loose by the earthquake falling down towards the ground below. Shiemi was on her knees, trying to use her body to protect the ghost, seemingly forgetting that ghosts are immune to physical damage.   
  
"Sh...Shiemi!" Rin shouted, getting off of the Demon King to run towards the girl he loved, but he was too far away, he would never make it in time. 'No... I WILL PROTECT HER!' Rin screamed within his mind and threw out his right fist. A large hand made of blue flames flew out of Rin's fist and incinerated all the debris that was about to crush the girl. It had only lasted a second, but then it was all over, Shiemi was safe.   
  
Rin collapsed to his knees and began to pant. It had been a much larger and more intense flame attack then he had ever done before and it had left him winded, especially after everything else that had happened.   
  
Unfortunately for him, Amaimon still had plenty of juice and was just getting up.

 

* * *

 

Danny arrived on the scene just after Rin had finished blowing away the wreckage that was threatening to flatten Shiemi. He ran up to the girl to find that she had passed out in shock of what was going on and the little ghost was laughing all the while, saying that it was the most fun he had ever had.   
  
"Hey kid!" Danny said looking to the ghost who immediately stopped.   
  
"What you need, boss?" The ghost asked. His wide smile and big starry eyes showing him to be a star struck ghost, willing to do whatever Danny requested.   
  
"Things are about to get even rougher around here. Can you take this girl back to the entrance?" Danny asked the ghost.   
  
"Yes sir!" The boy said with a salute before picking up the girl and starting to fly her back towards the entrance of the park.   
  
Having to the civilian out of the line of fire, Danny turned towards the demon which was now standing in front of the kneeing Rin. "Are you done already? How boring..." The demon said with a slight frown as he looked over the stolen sword in his hand. "Big brother told me not to... but now that you've become like this, shall we break your sword?"   
  
"Wh... no... no!" Rin cried stretching out an arm toward the demon as it started to put tension on the blade. A shot was fired and the demon stumbled as it was hit in the head by a graveyard bullet.   
  
He stumbled a little before turning to the source of the shot, a bullet held between he teeth before being spat out as the damage to his face repaired itself before Danny's eyes. "Hey now, I'm not to sure what your beef with Rin is, but if you wouldn't mind handing that sword over, I won't have to hurt you." Danny said seriously.   
  
"Danny." Rin groaned from the ground. "Be careful."   
  
"Oh, you're the other one that big brother was so interested in." The demon said as it completely lost interested in what it had been trying to do just seconds ago. "Maybe you will be more fun to play with."   
  
"Bring it." Danny said, the ring of white light passing over his body, revealing his demon form, his hair changing to white and his green eyes locked on his enemy.   
  
"Yay!" The demon said as it charged him. But the moment his stolen blade passed through Danny, Rin saw his form turn into white mist.   
  
"You're just chasing my tail. Funny." Danny said as he appeared behind Amaimon and slashed across his back with his spear, knocking the demon forward as the white mist regathered behind Danny to form his tail.   
  
But the cut wasn't deep enough and healed in moments. "Hey, fight me head on!" Amaimon shouted angrily as he turned around sweeping the Koumaken in a wide arc.   
  
Danny tried to block it, but within moments of contract,the demon sword covered in blue flame began to cut straight through Danny's spear like butter forcing him to lean out of the way of the strike by letting go of the hand nearing the top of the spear. Danny watched as the spear head flew into the air above them.   
  
But Danny had to jump out of the way of a second strike, firing off a ghost ray that might as well been a gentle hit with a pillow for all the effect it had on the angry demon as he moved in for the kill.   
  
Danny's tail expanded and was put between himself and the demon as a shield, cutting off Amaimon's view of him as the Demon King went in for a strike. Amaimon swung Rin's blade straight through the mist, but hit nothing but air. Danny had launched himself upwards and grabbed the still airborne spear hand before firing himself like a rocket at Amaimon's back, driving the blade into Amaimon's right shoulder with enough force to push him back into the ground hard enough to leave a crater.   
  
Amaimon gave a shout of pain, losing his grip of the Koumaken which Danny pulled from his hands with a flick of his tail before grabbing it out of the air and flying back to Rin, leaving the spear head embedded in the demon's back.   
  
Rin watched the whole thing in shock as Danny picked up Rin's sheath and put away the Koumaken. "Hide your tail before anyone arrives." Danny whispered as he put the sword down next to Rin.   
  
"Wha... about you?" Rin asked worried.   
  
"Don't worry. My secret isn't as important. I'll hold him off." Danny said as he turned to the Demon King. Amaimon was pulling the spear head from his shoulder holding it in his hand like a dagger as he stared at Danny. The wound on his shoulder was gone in seconds. Only the torn up close to show that it ever even happened. "Oh, so your goal was the sword all along." Amaimon said in his bored voice.   
  
"Oh come on. I thought that my holy silver spear would at least have some effect on you." Danny complained.   
  
"Holy silver? I'm sorry, but this is only ordinary steel." Amaimon said holding it up and examining it.   
  
"... Mephisto you mother..!" Danny didn't have time to finish that thought as Amaimon was on him, this time swinging around Danny's spear head. Danny did his best to dodge, but Amaimon was fast. Danny backed out of the way of one of his strikes before being forced to turn intangible and pass underneath the ground to avoid a hit to the head. Coming up behind the Demon he unloaded a clip of bullets into the guys back causing him to stumble, but not fall. The bullets were simply pushed out of his skin and he continued like nothing had happened.   
  
"How are we supposed to play, if you don't stay still!" Amaimon shouted as he rushed Danny again, not seeing the holy water grenade in Danny's hand. It was tossed into the demon's face and exploded, sending a mist of holy water all over the demon's body. But it still didn't so him down at all. And this time when he emerged from the fog with skin being burned from his face, he managed a heavy punch that knocked Danny backwards and straight through several of the teacups in the spinning tea cup ride.   
  
"Tag! You're it." Amaimon said in a gloating manner as he slowly walked towards the boy who was pulling himself out of the rubble. His skin was fixing itself before Danny's eyes, until he appeared to still be as good as knew. Danny winced from the pain, his body not nearly as hard as Rin's, but he could still move.   
  
But Amaimon stopped his advance as more gunfire was heard and Jazz ran out from behind a corner, holding a gun in hand. "Danny! Get back!" Jazz shouted as the bullets hit Amaimon one after another. But were all pervious shorts had not lasted a second, Amaimon was actually wincing from these ones. Holy silver bullets were the common weakness among Earth type demons. And even though the King of Earth was far too powerful for the bullets to kill, they still did hurt.   
  
"Jazz, what are you thinking, stop that!" Izumo said tried to pull Jazz to safety as an annoyed Amaimon turned on them.   
  
Danny pushed himself between the Demon and his sister and student just as Amaimon jumped at them. Danny put up the strongest shield he could, but he still shuddered underneath the hits of the Demon King. 'Can't hold on...' Danny thought as he struggled to keep them safe. 'At this rate, I'll have to use it...' The image of a perfectly formed ice crystal with glowing with a white light that came from within it came into Danny's mind. His demon heart.   
  
But before Danny could start to draw it out a new voice was heard. "Devour the seven princesses! Slay the Serpent!" Yamada jumped down from a nearby building, pulling a purple sword from a tattoo just below his neck from inside his hoodie. Slashing at Amaimon who jumped out of the way.   
  
"And you are?" Amaimon asked, starting to get annoyed with all the last second hero interruptions.   
  
But rather than giving a name, Yamada said. "Yer the King of Earth, Amaimon. How did a big-shot like you manage to enter the academy? Did Mephisto let you in?"   
  
"You're being a hindrance." Amaimon grumbled tapping the spear head on his shoulder.   
  
"Yer the hindrance." Yamada shot back.   
  
Amaimon stood there for a few seconds before throwing the spear head aside. "So it is over, after all." Amaimon said, sounding more than a little disappointed. "Another time, perhaps..." He then jumped into the air and fled the seen.   
  
"Hey wait!" Yamada shouted before running after him.   
  
Only once they were gone did Danny lower his shield. "Wow, hope that guy don't come back." He mumbled rubbing his shoulders. He wasn't going to give chase. If they fought then and there, with everyone around, someone would be hurt. An all out battle between the two with take out a few city blocks at the least.   
  
"Rin!" Jazz shouted as she ran off to check on the older and more beaten up of the two half demons.   
  
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Rin said, trying to force a smile. "It looks worse that it is." He insisted, though that wasn't surprising given just how bad it looked. His face completely littered with blood and scratches.   
  
Danny sighed and fell onto his butt. Unfortunately, he forgot about the other observer. "So you really were a demon." Izumo said getting Danny's attention.   
  
"Yeah... so what of it?" Danny said a little bitterly.   
  
But before Izumo could answer a gunshot got all their attention. Yukio had arrived and fired a bullet into the air to get everyone's attention, before pointing his gun at Danny. "What happened here, Mr. Fenton?" He asked grimly.   
  
"Yukio, what the crap!?" Rin shouted angrily as he started to push himself to his feet. "What are you doing!?"   
  
"Rin, you are injure, the park is in ruins and he is in his demon form. I want answers. Now!" Yukio demanded as Danny just glared back at him.   
  
"Put that down you Four-Eyed Scaredy Cat. You would have known what happened if you had just gone here faster. Then maybe I won't have had to move." Yamada said as he... no... it was a she, if the voice was any indication, walked out with her sword over one shoulder. "Been a long time, hasn't it?"   
  
"It... It can't be." Yukio said his gun arm going slack in shock.   
  
"Who?" Rin asked being confused.   
  
"Well, whatever. I've gotten tired of lookin' like this anyways." She said pulling off her hoodie to reveal and unwinding some bandages that were holding her chest in.   
  
Rin and Danny's jaws dropped as they stared at a woman with little more than a bikini top on with what must have been the biggest chest they had ever seen... on a human at least, with a large tattoo going right down through her cleavage that ended just underneath her belly button. She had long wavy dark red hair that ended in blond highlights as well as full lips and brown eyes.   
  
"That... that isn't even fair." Izumo mumbled her hands crossed over her own rather small chest.   
  
"I'm Senor Exorcist First Class, Shura Kirigakure." She said as she tossed the hoodie aside. "I was dispatched by the True Cross Vatican Headquarters to investigate the existence of the Japanese branch's 'risk factor'." She said glancing at the still injured Rin. "I'm a senior inspector."   
  
"Oh, poop." Danny said simply. Things had just gotten complected.


	27. Chapter 27

"What are you doing here... Inspector?" Yukio said, trying white as a ghost as the girl put her hair up into a ponytail and rubbed her shoulders a bit.   
  
"Man it was hot in that thin'. Hey Scaredy Cat, how can yer stand bein' in one of those heavy black coats on a sunny day like to today?" Shura said, ignoring Yukio's dumb question. "Anyhow, I'm going to have to take this one with me to Japanese Branch Headquarters... as a witness to what happened here, and to get medical attention or what not." She said walking up to Rin and pulling him into a headlock, pressing his face against her chest. Rin's brain was too fried to even try to protest. She then turned towards Danny. "Yer see that the students move on to the dormitories before coming along yerself. I've got questions for yer too."   
  
"Of course." Danny said though he was worried. Was Rin found out, or did she really only want him as a witness?   
  
"Afterwards, I'd like to talk with the branch manager, Mephisto, so you will take me to him." Shura said as she turned and started to drag Rin along. "C'mon, we've got some talking to do."   
  
"Um... shouldn't we be taking care of his injures first? Before we move him." Jazz said hoping to buy some time.   
  
"Nah, this guy's fine as he is. He just 'stinks of milk' still, don'cha think?" Shura said to Jazz.   
  
"Smells of milk? Are you calling him a baby?" Jazz asked a bit confused, but the Senor exorcist just walked straight past her. Yukio ran after her as if hoping to talk her out of whatever she was going to try to do.   
  
Danny sighed and let the white ring pass over his body, returning him to a normal human state. "Well today was lousy." Danny said as he scratched his head. "Come on. We need to get back to the rest of the group at the entrance." He said leading the way with Izumo and Jazz following behind. "So, are you going to tell everyone on me now?" Danny asked, glancing in Izumo's direction.   
  
"Tell on you for what? Being a demon? Like I care, and I don't talk to those idiots anyways." Izumo scoffed. Danny gave a small sigh of relief. At least it was only the antisocial girl who found out... well that and the Vatican spy.   
  
Danny watched her sticking her nose up into the air in a condescending manner. It was actually rather cute how she was pretending it didn't matter, even as the body shook with every step she took. But was that from the fear of Danny, or the realization of how close she had been to death.   
  
But finally she stopped and glanced at Danny. "But why are you hiding it? It isn't like people with demon blood are rare among exorcists. So why do you lie about it?"   
  
Danny didn't answer immediately. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to answer, but finally said. "I don't want to be an exorcist. I don't want to have anything to do with them." Danny said, trying not to sound too cold about it. "But if the Order finds out about me, then I won't be given a choice. They don't just let people like me walk free. Most people with 'demon blood' in them got about one thirtieth or something and are hardly more than ordinary humans. Anyone that has more power than a lesser demon is too dangerous to be let have a normal life. I'd be forced into the Order simply to keep tabs on me. Or maybe they would just kill me to skip the tedious part of finding fake evidence that I did something wrong. Exorcist are just self righteous jerks."   
  
"Danny!" Jazz said disapprovingly. "You finally get to show your true colors in front of someone and that is what you say? Exorcists aren't that bad."   
  
"Really? So I must have just imagined Yukio pointing his gun at me." Danny said rolling his eyes. "Jazz, I don't need to be friends with them, and I'm better off without them." Danny said, hastening forwards so that he wouldn't have to listen anymore.   
  
Izumo watched as Danny moved on ahead. Part of her was getting pissed off by his attitude problem. Just blowing everyone off as being the seem, untrustworthy. He acted as if none of them was worth his time. But then he always jumped into action the moment he smelled danger. If he really didn't care, than why did he keep coming to their rescue?   
  
Izumo was so used to things being the other way around. People using pretty words and promises, but then they abandon you the moment you need them. Then again, maybe it simply was that he didn't want their help. How could they help him? She had only seen a few moments of him fighting, but he was clearly on the level of a Senior Exorcist. Exwires would only drag him down, get in his way. But if that was his opinion, then why was he friends with Rin?   
  
Before she could think any deeper on it, she was distracted by shouting ahead of them. "Damn brat! Get back here! I'm going exorcise the crap of you!" The unmistakable voice of Bon shouted.   
  
The blond haired monk was running in circles trying to grab as a small ghost child who was holding his prayer beads just outside of his reach and laughing at him. "Come on, you almost got them that time." The little ghost laughed.   
  
"Just wait until I get my hands on you!" Bon shouted angrily lunging at the ghost, but he simply passed straight through it and fell to the ground.   
  
Izumo couldn't help but to start to laugh at Bon's misfortune. Danny was also laughing openly. "Come on, Toshiro, stop teasing Bon Bon!" Danny shouted.   
  
"Don't call me that!" Bon shouted his rage boiling over as he glared at Danny, only making the child teacher laugh harder at the scratches on his face from his nose dive through the little ghost.   
  
It was made all the funnier are Toshiro flew around the downed exorcist boy laughing along chanting. "Bon Bon, Bon Bon, Bon Bon." But then Toshiro seemed to register that it was Danny who had been talking. "Oh sir!" He shouted leaving Bon alone to fly up to Danny and float in attention. "I brought the ditzy blond girl to safety, just like you order sir!" He said happily.   
  
Danny glanced over at Shiemi who was sitting on a bench nearby looking a bit dazed, but otherwise alright. "Good job kid. I knew I could count on you." Danny said ruffling the ghosts blond hair.   
  
"Yay!" Toshiro whooped before doing looped loops through the air. Izumo couldn't help but to blush at the cuteness of it all.   
  
"Wait a second, are you telling me that little shit is your familiar!?" Bon shouted, not realizing that Jazz was standing nearby. He screamed in pain as the older girl grabbed him by one of his earrings.   
  
"Bon, you do not talk about a child that way!" Jazz said seriously as the monk begged for mercy.   
  
"But why did you have us chasing after your familiar?" Konekomaru asked. The bold monk was standing a fair distances from Bon and Jazz, praying for his friends well being, but not wanting to get involved.   
  
"Forget that, what the heck happened in there!?" Renzo asked in a panic.   
  
"What happened here today is none of your concern, just let the more senior exorcists handle it." Danny said blowing him off, making Bon even angrier. "As for Toshiro here, he isn't my familiar. Everything he does is his own free will. But he's a good kid and he wanted some playmates, so I volunteered all of you." Danny said with a smart-ass grin.   
  
Toshiro flew out in front of all of them and smiled. "'Cause I've been sick ever since I was born, I got scolded every time I tried to go outside an' play." He said as his form became more misty and flakes of it fell away, catching the light so that they looked like miniature stars. Each of the exorcists that watched were dumbstruck as an overwhelming sense of gratitude washed over them. "Thank you all for playing with me. Today was really fun." A grin split his face as his body broke down and the starry lights were swept up and scattered around them.   
  
"Wha... what happened?" Shiemi asked.   
  
"He 'passed on'." Danny said with a sad smile. "When a ghost fulfills his unfinished business, the demon leaves the vessel and returns to Gehenna in peace. It's considered to be one of the most beautiful sights you can see in this world. That's why most people believe that they are seeing the souls of the dead moving on to heaven." There was a moment of silence before Danny spoke again. "Alright everyone, I've got places I need to be and you all look pretty tired, so go home and get some rest. Your assignment is to think about what you just saw and get some sleep. Later." He finished turning away as waving goodbye as he walked off towards a door so that he could enter the Japanese Branch Headquarters.   
  
Danny pulled out his key and unlocked the door. But as he walked in the first thing he saw was Yukio talking to Mephisto.   
  
"Danny, it’s good to see you are taking such an interest in you studen..." Mephisto started, walking towards Danny with his arms held out, but he was cut off when Danny did a double heel kick to his face with enough force to send him flying back twenty feet into a wall.   
  
"You gave me a piece of junk!" Danny shouted holding up what was let of his spear. "I could have gotten my head chopped off because of you! I wasn't expecting some kind of divine weapon, but you could have at least gave me standard issue equipment!"   
  
"Oh, my 'gift' was no to your liking?" Mephisto said holding a hand to his bleeding nose in order to cover his smile. Danny frowned at the English pronunciation of 'gift'.   
  
"Isn't 'gift' the German word for poison?" Danny growled. "You knew that was going to happen!"   
  
Mephisto laughed. "I was unaware that you knew German. But speaking of poisons, I understand you met our lovely temptress, Shura Kirigakure."   
  
"Yeah, is that something I need to be worried about?" Danny asked crossing his arms.   
  
"No, everything's fine." Mephisto said with a shrug.   
  
"'Everything's fine'?" Yukio repeated, his eye full of pent up anger. "She's a spy for the Vatican. If she reports to them about Rin, he could be killed."   
  
"You worry too much. I'm sure they are getting along great right now." Mephisto said, then the whole building shook with the sound of an explosion. "See, they are quickly becoming the best of friends."   
  
"Oh yeah, just like me and Yukio." Danny mumbled, glaring at the slightly older teacher.   
  
"Ah, character conflict. Don't you love it?" Mephisto said with a smile. He was having a lot of fun.

 

* * *

 

"Holy shit!" Rin shouted as he ran around the large white box that made up the interrogation room like a chicken with its head chopped off. He was trying to dodge attacks that he couldn't even see as Shura swung her sword in his general direction. Air moved through the groves along the blade, creating a pressure differential, the fundamental fact of reality that the demon within her blade drew power from, creating invisible blades of wing that flew through the air and smashed into Rin like so many boulders. Sure they weren't sharp, but they hurt like hell.   
  
Rin put up a wall made up of his blue flames, but the wind slashes were hardly even dampened the attacks and his energy reserves were still running dry from his earlier scrap with Amaimon.   
  
"Why?.. Why is a student of the old man trying to kill me!" Rin shouted, his flames covered his body, tightening his skin in order to protect him from further damage.   
  
Shura held out her sword in a guard in front of her, Rin's own demon blade was in its carrying case on her back. He really wished he had it. The energy he would gave from drawing it would help him stay alive, even if he was hopelessly out matched. Danny was good, but this chick was on a whole other level. He couldn't believe she was even human.   
  
"Why?" Shura said, as if the question was stupid. "'cause it's a student's job to fix the mistakes of their masters." Her sword arm twitched, it wasn't much but it still showed her pent up emotions. "Shiro was the greatest, but then he ran away from the fight. And for what? To create some stupid weapon against Satan?"   
  
Shura rushed Rin at a speed that matched Danny's and struck him hard enough to knock him back into the wall, cracking the stones of the reinforced room, leaving Rin gasping in pain. "He was nothing but a coward! The worst Paladin ever!" Shura shouted as she moved in to drive the tip of her sword into Rin's heart. But to her shock Rin grabbed onto her blade with his bare hand, using his unnatural strength to bring it to a stop. Rin's hand was covered in blue flames to protect him from the blade.   
  
"You can say whatever you want about me... But my dad was no coward!" Rin shouted angrily.   
  
Shura glared. "He was a coward."   
  
"No he wasn't! My dad died protecting me from Satan!" Rin shouted. "I prove that he wasn't a coward! I'll prove he wasn't wrong! I'm going to become the ultimate exorcist, and I'm gonna kick Satan's ass! Then everyone will have to admit that my old man was right! They'll have accept that my dad was right when I'm Paladin!"   
  
Shura was shocked. 'Dad', the boy said it over and over again. Shiro hadn't been making a weapon. He had been raising a son. 'You'd like him, he's a funny guy.' Shiro had said to her the last time they had seen each other. Did Rin really believe that the Vatican would make him, a bastard of Satan, the next Paladin? Shura pulled her blade from Rin's grip and used the dull side of it to pin the boy to the ground by his throat.   
  
The boy really meant it, it was written all over his stupid face. Shura couldn't help it, she broke into laughter. "Oh that is too rich." She said as she got up, letting Rin breathe. The serious expression dropped out of Rin's face as he just tried to understand the sudden change of tone. "Hey kid, yer really loved Shiro, didn't you?"   
  
"Wha... no I... I mean how could some one..." Rin tried to make excuses to save his rebellious teen persona but Shura wasn't listening. She was only thinking aback to the old days, with the greatest man who ever lived.

 

* * *

 

When the doors to the examination room finally opened Shura dragged the battered Rin over one shoulder before tossing him on the ground in front of the group. "Yeah, he's a funny guy alright." She said with a grin.   
  
"Rin!" Yukio shouted checking on his brother.   
  
"Alright, you're next, so come on!" Shura said grabbing onto Danny's collar, dragging him into the now destroyed interrogation room before closing the door behind her.   
  
"I wonder if they will get along?" Mephisto said with a smile just before a new explosion was heard. "Guess not."


	28. Chapter 28

“This chick is insane!" Danny couldn't help but shout as he dodged the volley of wing slashes aimed at him. Though since his stamina was a lot higher than Rin's due to the fact that his demon's heart was fully awakened, along with his more developed and diverse skill set, he was faring much better against the Senor Exorcist First Class.   
  
"Oh come on, is that the best yer got!?" She laughed wildly as she continued to swing around her sword. Even though Rin had hardly been able to grasp the position of the attacks from the woman's swings, Danny could sense the demonic energy moving through the air, allowing him to 'see' them coming. Though with the speed of the attacks, he was still left with little time to dodge.   
  
As one came a little too close for comfort, Danny turned himself invisible and intangible, moving through the air to try to avoid further damage as he planned out his next move.   
  
"Invisibility? Yer think that old trick will work on me? Kid, I'm a pro." Shura said, clapping her hands together four times and starting to chant in an old dialect that Danny couldn't understand.   
  
Danny could feel his form being condensed by a static pressure in the air as he was forced back into the visible spectrum. "Oh great." He said as she rushed him with a stab that was intended for his shoulder. But to her surprise when it passed through him his body turned to a white mist and she found that she really had pushed her blade through Danny's mist-like tail. The tail solidified and wrapped around her wrist before flinging her away, but Shura artfully recovered and was back on her feet before even Danny was.   
  
"Well yer can turn yer tail into a copy of yerself. Pretty high level skill yer get there." Shura said as she prepared for another strike.   
  
"Took me a while to get it down. You wouldn't believe how many ways there are to mess it up." Danny said, rubbing his butt. "Man even though it wasn't solid when you struck it, that demon sword of yours still hurt my tail. It's a water demon of some kind, am I right? Since wind and water both fall under fluid mechanics, water demons can often have air pressure based attacks. Just like insect demons include winged demons, which is why your more basic birds still fall under that category."   
  
"For someone that doesn't want to become an exorcist, yer sure do know a lot about demons." Shura said coolie. She moved with enough speed to be just a blur in Danny's vision.   
  
The boy put up a shield all around him, but the woman was nowhere to be seen. He looked left and right, even turning around, but he couldn't see her. "Try lookin' up!" Danny was shocked when Shura smashed straight through the top of his shield and pinned him to the ground with the blade of her demon sword pressed to his throat. "Yer need to take things more seriously if you don't want to wind up dead. Yer didn't even try attackin' me." Shura said with a scoff from her position of sitting on Danny's stomach. "Danny Fenton, the son of Maddie and Jackson Fenton. Looks like your parents managed to lie while under a demon contract that was supposed to force the truth from them. They must really have wanted to protect you. The rumored Frankenstein's monster they created. A truly artificial demon."   
  
"You're wrong." Danny gasped. "They... they never even knew about me. They never... knew I was a demon."   
  
"Huh? How could they have not known? I mean, what kind of exorcist parents could seriously over look somethin' like that?" Shura asked, his face looking a bit in disbelief as she pulled the blade away. She was done testing the boy's skills.   
  
And he was skilled, for a demon anyways, but refused to use his powers to actually go on the offensive, which could possibly hurt her. 'Self righteous brat. I hate people like that. Doesn't he know Chivalry is dead' One part of her mind said, but the other part added. 'Maybe this have nothing to do with men or women. Maybe he just isn't much of a fighter.'   
  
"I only became a demon a year ago, just after an accident. I never told my parents anything, because if I did... well, you know how exorcists treat demons. And my parents were considered extreme even by the Order's standards. They would have killed me in my sleep." Danny said as he rubbed his neck, glad that the older exorcist seemed to be content with whatever she had been trying to do by attacking him.   
  
"Well that's messed up. Next question, why is a guy like yer doin’ workin' for Mephisto?" Shura asked.   
  
Danny sighed. "My parents had some big plan for connecting to Assiah to Sheol, the Ghost Zone. But in order to do it, they needed knowledge, the kind that they could only get from one place, a Demon King who specializes in the Earthly desire for knowledge, Mephisto." Danny said, recounting his understanding of the story. "So after finding out what they wanted it for Mephisto made a bet with them. He would give them the information they needed, but in exchange, if they were ever caught using the info to break taboo... Mephisto would become the legal guardian of both me and my sister. Though that all happened before I was ever even born. Just over twenty years ago after they were first banished from the Order."   
  
"So yer saying that Mephisto basically owns your lives." Shura said sounding disgusted.   
  
"After that he just kept giving me jobs that he knew I wouldn't be able to refuse, no without putting people’s lives at risk." Danny said looking over at the woman.   
  
"So is it safe to assume that yer weren't the one that busted yer folks out of the slammers. And now yer've been put in charge of teaching Satan's son to control his flames?" Shura asked. Danny only nodded in response. "So Mephisto is using one taboo to teach another. What is he thinkin'? When the big brass finds out about this his head will be on the chopping block."   
  
"Anyhow, now's my turn to ask a question. Why haven't you killed Rin? The Vatican ordered it didn't they? And even if they hadn't, your run of the mill exorcist would have killed him anyways, without even a second thought." Danny asked, sounding more than a little accusing.   
  
The woman scoffed. "Hey, that's my own business and I'm not about to talk to yer about it."   
  
"Hey no fair, I answered your questions." Danny said in a bit of a pout.   
  
"How ever said life was fair?" Shura said with a grin. "Life sucks, and anyone that tells yer otherwise is an idiot."   
  
"Jeez, and the students think I'm a pessimist." Danny said sarcastically. "You sure you're a Knight of God? Don't really act like an exorcist... or dress like one."   
  
Shura began to laugh again. "A Knight of God? Oh please, I've never prayed even once in my whole life." She said tilting her head in a seductive manner. "Prayin' ain't never helped anyone. And as for bein' an exorcist... well, there isn't much else you can do with yer life after yer've got yer soul bound to a demon sword. Though I suppose yer know what I mean there. I tried to run away from it at first, but yer'll find that it's easier to just accept it and go with the flow."   
  
"Just accept it and go with the flow? You mean by doing something like killing Rin? Heck, the Vatican would probably sentence me to death too. So you aren't exactly going with the flow." Danny pointed out.   
  
"Well... to tell you the truth I'm holding out on my report. Mostly because of something the idiot said." Shura admitted before snorting. "He told me he was going to become the next Paladin!" She said before bursting out laughing.   
  
"The... Paladin." Danny repeated smiling. "Sounds like something Rin would say." He closed his eyes. "If only he really could become Paladin. For a guy like him to make Paladin, it you prove that this world is a better place than I give it credit for."   
  
"Oh, so what would yer do if he really did make it?" Shura asked. "Don't you pretend you don't know he has the potential to be one of the most powerful exorcists there is. So what would you do if they really did make him Paladin."   
  
"I don't know. Maybe I'd become one of his Archknights." Danny said thoughtfully.   
  
"'Maybe'? Jeez yer no fun." She said bitterly. "Whatever, interrogation is over. You're free to go." She said opening up the door. They both walked out, having a bit more to think about.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I promise I have at least 10 more chapters done, but I've been on a road trip, so access to wifi isn't all that easy to get. On the bright side I'm catching up with my writing? I'll be back to posting on a regular schedule in about 2 weeks tho.

"You really are a sick creep, you know that?" Danny said to Mephisto as he stood in his office. "Don't even pretend that you weren't responsible for what happened at the amusement park. I couldn't sense Amaimon until he was already at Rin's throat. And call me paranoid, but Amaimon doesn't strike me as the kind who would be able to hide his presence from me. Only experienced time demons can do that."   
  
"Such accusations. You must truly believe me a villain. After all, what could I possibly gain from setting something like this up." Mephisto said, trying to look wounded, but a wicked grin still swept across his face. "I'm going to be straight with you. I didn't try to stop Amaimon from coming here. You said it yourself. Rin need to be exposed to stress so he can really learn how to control his flames. The day when his demon heart fully awakens is close at hand. You know that as well as I do. If we don't hurry, he will be a danger to the entire city."   
  
Danny glared. He wanted to take this Demon King down. But he knew... he could feel that it was far beyond his power to do so. Mephisto Pheles was even more powerful that Pariah Dark. And Danny hardly survived that fight. Even if Amaimon was a Demon King, he wasn't in the same league as Mephisto and Pariah were. In a fair fight, away from any civilians, Danny was confident that he would be able to win out over Amaimon. But Mephisto... Mephisto was out of his reach.   
  
"I'm not going to bother asking what your game is, because you won't tell me. But answer me this, how important are we to you; me, Rin, Jazz, all of the cram school students?" Danny asked the Demon King.   
  
Mephisto's smile faded a bit. "Every single one of you and my precious, irreplaceable pawns. Even Mr. Okumura and Ms. Kirigakure pieces in this game I play. I cannot afford to senselessly lose any of you."   
  
Anger bubbled up inside of Danny. Not because that those were Mephisto's true feelings. He had already guessed that a long time ago, but because the demon didn't even feel the need to hide or sugarcoat it. But at the same time, he was relieved to hear it. It meant that he wouldn't just allow anyone to die. Because if anyone did, he would lose both Danny and Rin's cooperation. In fact, the two half demon's would probably be out for blood if anything happened.   
  
"Thanks for your honesty." Danny said through gritted teeth, personally running through a list of likely weaknesses of a time demon.   
  
They needed an instrument to focus the time singularity around in order to store the time they captured... but what was Mephisto's instrument? Was it his hat, or maybe his umbrella? It could have been in an object he just chose not to openly show, or maybe he is too powerful to need one.   
  
The highest tier light demons could somewhat resist time magic, if not spatial magic, based on the laws of relativity. That was the main reason why Time demons were not considered the most powerful category of all, though it didn't help Danny. Maybe there were magic circles that could simulate the Right of Light, like Clockwork's time medallions.   
  
"Could you please stop plotting my murder right in front of me." Mephisto said as Danny's glare and clenched fists were starting to make him nervous. "Come know, I've already told you that everything will work out for the best in the end and that your friend's lives will be protected. What more do you want?"   
  
"Well... a TV at the dormitories would be nice." Danny mumbled with a sigh, he realized that plotting Mephisto's murder wasn't going to get him anywhere, if he wanted everyone to be safe, he was going to have to protect them with his own two hands.   
  
"Well, I can't give you any television, but how about a new weapon?" Mephisto said cocking an eyebrow. He pointed behind Danny and the ghost boy turned around to see that the room had changed and was stretching out as far as the eye could see. Weapons of every imagined shape and making filling twin shelves that went on for what seemed like forever. "Take your pick."   
  
Danny's eyes widened. Something that he was finding happened less and less often as the world had to try really hard to surprise him. "Wow... an impressive collection you got going here Morpheus, but couldn't you have just giving me a smaller selection of the higher quality ones?"   
  
Danny turned back to the Headmaster to find that he had changed into a black turtleneck with a black overcoat over it and black sunglasses. "Don't worry Neo, trust your instincts." He said looking over his glasses with a smile.   
  
Danny walked along the rows of weaponry. He didn't bother paying any attention to the axes, maces, or morning stars. None of them were his style. his judgment of the swords and spears was wary. Especially after the last thing he used turned out to just be stainless steel with a few decorative ruins covered into it. Something that could have gotten him killed.   
  
In fact, some of the weapons there we of even lower quality, made of normal bronze or iron. Definitely junk. But as he walked along a short sword caught his eye. It was a curved Japanese short sword, just over one and a half foot blade with a one foot handle, making the center of gravity really close to the wielder. Its hilt was decorated with a silvery fox design, though the sheath was a normal light blue stained hide with no designs on it at all.   
  
Danny lifted it up and unsheathed it to inspect the blade. It was a lot heavier than it looked. A normal human probably would have had difficulties lifting it, though it was hardly a problem for Danny. The ghost boy could sense his own energy being dawn on, causing the edge to gain a pale glow. A pink jewel dangled from a short cord on the bottom of the hilt, just next to a tag that read, 'kogitsune-maru', which Danny's Japanese badge translated into meaning, 'little fox'.   
  
"This will do." Danny said, re-sheathing the blade before slipping it into his bottomless pockets.   
  
"Alrighty then!?" Mephisto shouted happily as he snapped his fingers and the world seemed to shake as the room returned to the way it had been before. "Do you have everything you need now?"   
  
"Yeah, I should be able to handle Amaimon if he comes back." Danny said calmly. "Or are you not going to send him again?"   
  
"You really don't trust me, do you?" Mephisto said, pouting slightly.   
  
"I trust you not to let us die. But there are worse things in the world than death. You should know that better than anyone." Danny said before turning and leaving the room.   
  
"Nobody seems to trust you. Poor big brother." Amaimon said as he fell down from the ceiling, hanging there upside-down by his tail. Somehow managing to eat popcorn as he hung there.   
  
"Amaimon, next time you are to listen to my instructions and not engage on little Danny boy. You are only to fight Rin Okumura, and you are not to kill any of the students." Mephisto said deliberately as he leaned forward. "And next time you will not be causing any earthquakes. I would rather my city remain in one piece, thank you very much."   
  
"Next time big brother? What are we going to do next time?" Amaimon asked in his monotone voice.   
  
"Same thing as we do every time Amaimon, try to get Rin to show his true power." Mephisto said with a smile. He was already making his next plan of attack. But it would require a little more help, and of the expendable verity. "All the actors have gathered together. Know where must simply raise the curtains. I hope you all enjoy the show."   
  
"Big Brother... you're talking to yourself again." Amaimon said simply.

 

* * *

 

"Hello everybody, I've just transferred here from Vatican Headquarters to the Japanese Branch. I'm Shura Kirigakura, age 18! It's so nice to meet all of you!" Shura introduced herself to the cram school students in an extremely fake preppie voice. "Nah, I'm just just kidding with all you. I've been here for the last few months so we've all really already met." She said in her normal tone of voice. "Anywho', for the time being I'll be teaching you magic circles, sealing techniques and... sword techniques too, what a pain in the ass!" She grumbled as she read her schedule "Though I guess I'm supposed to be co-instructing with Casper for swords. Good, he can do all the work." She said with a yawn. "Ok... so let's have some fun with it, shall we?"   
  
Bon raised his hand nervously. He had been insulting her for a while not knowing that she was really a high ranking exorcist. So he wasn't sure how to proceed. "Um... Mrs. Teacher." He said, not sure how to address her.   
  
"Hm? What is it Suguro?" Shura said glancing up from the notes she had been left on how to teach the class.   
  
"Why were you pretending to be a student?" Bon asked.   
  
"Ahhh those are adult matters. You kids don't need to worry about them." Shura said waving him off.   
  
"Wha... What is that supposed to mean..!" Bon shouted in confusion.   
  
"Mrs Kirigakura, what happened to our former magic seals instructor, Professor Neigauz?" Izumo asked.   
  
"He's on... maternity leave." She said scratching her nose. Though the truth was he was trying to pick up all the pieces of his familiars that were scattered about when he had been throwing them all at Danny's feet to be stomped on.   
  
"But he's a man!" Izumo shouted.   
  
"What's yer point? In this day and age, guy's can get pregnant too you know. Just ask Sir Pheles. He was once pregnant with a baby horse. Though I'm not entirely sure how that happened." Shura said scratching her chin.   
  
Before anyone had time to fully grasp how gross that was, the door to the classroom opened and Danny carried Rin in over one shoulder. "You really do need to learn strategy. Just taking blows to the face will only get you so far." He said to a barely conscious Rin.   
  
"Don't lecture... lecture me while I'm concussing..." Rin moaned.   
  
"Clearly you're fine if you can still use big boy words like that one. But if you ever lose a fight again I will increase your training regiment again. Remember, heroes don't lose." Danny said in a joking manner, even though he was dead serious. But the ghost boy stopped when he spotted Shura standing there.   
  
Rin looked up and saw Shura staring at them with a cocky grin on her face. "You're..? It's you!" Rin nearly shouted in surprise at seeing the first class exorcist there.   
  
"Oh, yer back. Just drop him down in his seat so I can get my lesson underway." Shura said waving the two towards Rin's usual spot.   
  
Danny dropped the boy in his chair where he was quickly fund all over by Shiemi who wanted to check him for serious injury. Danny turned to leave, catching Izumo's eye as he went. Both of them quickly looked away embarrassed. She hadn't told anyone. It was actually rather surprising to him, but it was a good thing.   
  
Maybe there was still hope that his secret could remain that for a little longer. But then again, Morphy is an ass.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!!!

Rin walked down the stair from the normal school building after the last day of the fall semester. "I can't believe I managed to finish one semester here without any problems." Rin said with his hands behind his head as he walked down the stairs. He still had the bag his sword had always been in over his shoulder, but now it only held a wooden stick. Shura had taken his sword for safekeeping, until he was strong enough to fight off Amaimon without drawing it. Which was never going to happen.   
  
"There's no somehow about it. You've been to tired to stir up trouble, and all these 'elite' students are to prim and proper to really get under your skin. Sure they are stuck up, but not to the level they would need to be to actually get us mad." Danny said as he walked next to Rin. "And with Jazz keeping us on such a short leash for grades, it would be hard for us to fall behind."   
  
"You got that right." Rin laughed in agreement as the two of them looked over to see Jazz with a large group of third year boys that were all trying to find out what she was going to be doing over the break. "She's pretty popular." Rin said with a little hostility in his voice.   
  
"You aren't her father, they don't need your permission. And as far as I can tell none of them are demons this time."   
  
"This time?" Rin asked.   
  
"Its how she got her spirit wound. A demon became her boyfriend and tried to force a possession into her body." Danny said sounding a bit cross about it. "That's why there is only one rule for her about dating. If it is a demon, it needs my permission."   
  
"Only permission?" Rin deadpanned, then he noticed Yukio also surrounded, only by girls this time. "Looks like she isn't the only one that is popular." Rin grumbled. "Damn four eyed mole face."   
  
"If it makes you feel better he'll never get a real girlfriend. After all, any girl that sees his true colors would run like hell." Danny said with a glare. He still haven't forgiven Yukio for pointing a gun at him for no reason.   
  
"Hey Okumura!" Konekomaru shouted as he walked up to the two secret half demons, along with Bon and Renzo.   
  
"Oh hey guys." Rin said with a wide grin. Danny just turned his head away.   
  
"Yeah good to see you too." Renzo said rubbing the back of his head. But Bon didn't say anything, he was too busy looked off towards where Jazz was. "Man looks like there is a lot of competition there, huh Bon?" Renzo said, as the pink haired boy followed his friend’s gaze.   
  
"Wha... what are you talking about, Shima?" Bon said angrily as he fought down a blush.   
  
"Oh? So Bon Bon has the hots for my sister does he?" Danny said with a sly grin.   
  
"I don't! Don't mistake me for Shima!" Bon shouted.   
  
"Hey? What's wrong with being me?" Renzo said a little depressed.   
  
"Sorry, didn't mean to insult you. But incase you were wondering, my sister really goes for the guys with the punk motorcyclist look." Danny said, teasing his student.   
  
"Oh? Luckily you Bon, maybe you should take a shot." Renzo said with a grin as he elbowed his blushing friend.   
  
"I don't know, I'm not sure that Bon is good enough for our older sister." Rin said tapping his chin.   
  
"What do you mean by that!? She's not your sister, she his!" Bon shouted glaring at Rin.   
  
"Speaking of Ms. Fenton, have any of you noticed that she's been acting weirdly around Mr. Okumura lately?" Konekomaru pointed out.   
  
"You mean like she looks like she's going to shot him in the head?" Bon said, glad to move away from the subject of love lives.   
  
"Maybe he asked her out and she got mad at him for being unprofessional." Renzo joked.   
  
"You can't honestly think that Mr. Okumura ever does anything unprofessional." Konekomaru said, rolling his eyes.   
  
"Well you never now. What are her plans for this summer break anyways?" Renzo asked Danny out of curiosity.   
  
"Same as yours. There's going to be a training camp starting tomorrow that will last four days. So I hope you like the great outdoors because the demons in it are hungry." Danny said with a rather evil grin.   
  
"Wha... no way." Renzo whined as Danny turned away.   
  
"Anyways, I've got to go meet up with Yamada. See you later." Danny said walking off. He was still calling Shura Kirigakure, Yamada, her old cover name. Mostly because it sounded a lot like he was saying 'ya motha', which he found funny. Though she refused to call him anything but Casper. Though neither of them really minded the nicknames, not like Four Eyed Scaredy Cat.   
  
"What... but the closing ceremony!?" Konekomaru shouted after him.   
  
"Skipping it!" Danny shouted back.   
  
"What great role models we have for teachers." Renzo said sarcastically.   
  
"Between him and Ms. Kirigakure, it is amazing we ever learn anything." Bon grumbled.   
  
"Wha? But they're the only teachers I understand." Rin said confused.   
  
"That's because you're an idiot!" Bon shouted at him.   
  
"Alright, come on. We should all probably be moving towards the closing ceremony anyways." Renzo said trying to steer his angry friend in the right direction.

 

* * *

 

"I hope you are all ready for summer to be fun, because all of you lucky exwires will be participating in the 'Forest Camp' taking place in the 'Academy's Forested Zone'. For the next three days, you will be doing combat training there." Yukio said when they had all gathered at the trolly cart the day after school let out for break. "Leading this camp will be myself, Mr. Fenton, and Ms. Kirigakure."   
  
"Hello~." Shura said waving at them in a cat like fashion.   
  
"For the first half of the Summer break, we will be concentrating on getting stronger in the training camp. For the latter part, you will be tested to see if you are able to take part in real combat missions." Yukio said.   
  
"Hate to be you out there." Danny said mysteriously as he grinned at the students making they wonder just what they were going to be made to do.

 

* * *

 

"Wow!" Rin shouted excitedly as they got off the trolley at the edge of the forest. "This is kinda like a picnic... I'm getting so excited!"   
  
"Do you think we'll sit around a campfire at night, or do stuff like folk dances?" Renzo said with a suspect look on his face, until a spider came down from a tree next to him and stopped in front of him at eye level. Then he immediately freaked out and began to spray bug spray everywhere.   
  
"Is he going to be okay?" Rin asked Konekomaru.   
  
"The one thing he's never been able to stand is insects." Konekomaru said simply.   
  
"Some probably should have told him that insects are the second most common type of demon." Jazz said with a chuckle. "How does he expect to be an exorcist if he can't even face a little bug?"

 

* * *

 

Fifteen minutes later as they were all walking up hill, the summer started to get to them. "Ugh, it's so hot." Renzo complained.   
  
"So heavy..." Konekomaru added, trying to shift the huge camping pack that each of them had to carry on his back.   
  
"This forest is peaceful during the day, but once the sun sets, it becomes a hotbed for lower-level demons. So we'll have to set up our base before dusk. Let's pick up the pace now." Yukio said to the others in his professional manner. He didn't even look slightly hot or tired underneath his heavy black exorcist coat.   
  
"Look at him... isn't he hot in that thing?" Bon said, sounding a bit tired himself.   
  
"Come on, get a move on it!" Shura shouted from the back of the group. They all turned to see her walked around in her normal bikini top and ripped short shorts with the exorcist jacket opened up over it. But they didn't see any backpack on her back.   
  
"Um ma'am, where's your backpack?" Renzo asked.   
  
"Over there." Shura said, pointing ahead of the group where Rin was standing with two backpacks on, one on top of the other.   
  
"Ah! So cold!" Rin shouted happily as he stuck his hands into a waterfall. "You think this is drinkable?" he asked the others.   
  
"Something tells me that Rin's energy is not of this world." Renzo said his eyebrow twitching as he watch.   
  
"You think this is draining? You should all come to my Knight Training class. There is a reason Rin can't stand after them." Danny said as he walked by patting Rin's shoulder. "We're probably close enough to the spring for it to be safe to drink if you want to take the risk."   
  
"I am so glad I followed Bon's example and went Aria." Renzo said, Konekomaru nodded in agreement.   
  
Izumo was stumbled a bit on the uneven terrain and nearly fell, but something pulled her back to her feet before he hit the ground. She turned her head to see Danny holding her up by her backpack. Before she could say anything he had taken the backpack from her and lifted it over one shoulder before continuing on like it was nothing.   
  
"No way..." Renzo said crying a bit. He wished he had the energy needed to do that for Izumo or Shiemi.   
  
"Th... thanks." Izumo said trying to fight back her embarrassment.   
  
"Don't mention it. To me this weight isn't anything special. You just looked like you could us a break." Danny said quietly to her. "Think of it as a thanks for not telling anyone."   
  
"I already said that I won't." Izumo said stubbornly.   
  
"People say a lot of things when put on the spot. Doesn't mean they will keep the promise later." Danny said with a shrug. Izumo looked at the boy. They were around the same height, since he was a year younger than everyone else. But his blue eyes showed a lot more experience than you would have expected.   
  
She was jealous of his strength. If she had his kind of power, then maybe all the things that had lead her up to this point would have never happened. He was a powerful demon. Were her bloodline had all but dried up. Only a single ancestor from thirty two generations before her was a demon. The Kamiki family lineage was all but gone.   
  
Danny pulled the backpack off of Shiemi to before tossing it to Rin, making him carry three. "It’s good training for you Rin! You need to build up your stamina! You tire too quickly!"   
  
"Is he serious... He's Satan himself." Bon said in horror but Rin just nodded and did as he was told, wearing the third backpack over his chest. Danny doing the same as he took his sister's bag.

 

* * *

 

Twenty minutes later they had all reached a clearing in the middle of the forest. It only took a few seconds for Danny to realize that the clearing was the one he had been lured to for the sneak attack during the exwire exams. It was a completely flat session of land without a single blade of grass or large stone in it.   
  
"We'll set up our base here." Yukio told everyone as they settled down. The girls were fine having been freed of their burdens, but Bon, Konekomaru, and Rinzo all looked like they were about to die. "The boys will assist me and Mr. Fenton in pitching the tents and building a fire. The girls will be under Ms. Kirigakure's supervision, drawing a Magic Circle around the camp perimeter, and preparing dinner." Yukio said before finally taking off his exorcist jacket. "Alright, let's get started."   
  
"He finally took his coat off..." Bon said in surprise.   
  
"Uh oh, looks like somebody's here to party." Renzo joked.   
  
So they all divided up and went to work. "It's starting to feel more and more like we're going on a picnic!" Rin said happily as he slapped at the top of the tent that he and Bon had set up.   
  
"I'd say it's more like a camping trip." Bon said looking a little worried about the sheer amount of energy his dim witted friends was showing. "You better stop hitting the tent like that, or it will..." Bon started but then the tent fell apart. "Didn't I just tell you!" Bon shouted angrily at Rin.   
  
"I'm sorry!" Rin apologized.   
  
Shiemi laughed happily from the edge of the camp as she watched the boy's. "Looks like they're having fun." She said with a smile, momentarily distracted from drawing the magic circle.   
  
"Fun? They just look super-annoying to me." Izumo commented.   
  
"Boys are kind of mysterious, don't you think?" Shiemi asked.   
  
"...Can't argue there..." She mumbled as she looked towards Danny who had finished carrying in firewood from the nearby trees. But she also thought about Shiemi's own actions. "But their not the only ones." She said thinking about how she had told Shiemi that she didn't like her, but the girl still talked to her regardless. "Normally you wouldn't talk to someone who told you they didn't like you." She mumbled.   
  
"What was that?" Shiemi asked, unaware of what Izumo had said.   
  
"Nothing! Would you hurry up and finish drawing your side!?" She shouted, flustered.   
  
"Alright, got it." Shiemi said getting back to work with a smile.   
  
"I'm surrounded by weirdos." She said turning her head at the sound of a video game to find Shura up in a tree playing on his portable game device.   
  
"Done drawing yet?" She asked in a disinterested tone of voice.   
  
"Like I said... weirdos." Izumo grumbled.   
  
"Nearly finished." Jazz said clearly.   
  
A little while later the boys had a strong camp fire going, one where Danny wouldn't get near it. Not out of a weakness for fire, but because his instincts would tell him to put it out with ice.   
  
"Ow..." Izumo said as she picked her finger on a kitchen knife, getting Rin's attention. Jazz and Shiemi were both looking at the ingredients with a bit of confusion, not sure where to start. Jazz had only ever done baking desserts. Even back in Amity Park, it had always been Danny that did the cooking normal meals.   
  
"Oh, man. I can't take this anymore... Gimme that!" Rin said as he moved in to take over his speciality.   
  
A few minutes later and Rin was finished cooking up his special curry.   
  
"Thanks for the meal!" Everyone shouted as they gathered around the fire, with Danny sitting at a safe distance, to eat their meals. After the first bite all of them who were not used to eating Rin's cooking froze in shock.   
  
"This... this is amazing! Seriously..." Bon said unable to comprehend reality at the moment.   
  
"Okumura, if you ever decided to switch roles you would make someone an awesome wife!" Renzo said, tears coming from his eyes.   
  
"Rin, you're an amazing cook, aren't you?" Konekomaru said, having the least showy reaction so far.   
  
"Its really yummy Rin!" Shiemi said through a mouthful.   
  
"W..well, thanks." Rin said, flushing at all the attention he was getting.   
  
Yukio laughed. "Cooking is the only usual skill my poor brother has." He said earning himself a glare from Rin.   
  
"We always joke that his meals are worth selling your soul for. You should have tired the 'Demonic Pie'." Jazz said chuckling. Yukio's eyebrow twitched. It may have been made of pure evil, but it was a damn good pie.   
  
Rin smiled as he listened to everyone talking around the camp fire. 'This is the first time I've done anything like this.' He thought as he looked around at all his friends. 'I was always ditching school and getting into fights, so I never really took part in these kinds of things.'   
  
"Hey Okumura! What do you want to drink?" Bon shouted from over by the cooler.   
  
'I guess this is what it is like to have friends.' Rin smiled as he got up. "That's cool, I'll get something myself." He said as he ran over to them.   
  
Izumo got up and walked over to where Danny was sitting by himself. "Why are you sitting allow during all this?" She asked him.   
  
He glanced over at her before looking at Rin with the other boys. "The heat from the fire makes me feel uncomfortable." Danny said with a shrug. "Besides, I find that it is a smart idea to keep yourself emotionally distance from exorcists. That way you don't feel so bad when they try to kill you for existing."   
  
"You make exorcists sound heartless." Izumo said raising one of her funny eyebrows.   
  
"You saw Bon just the other day, trying to exorcist that little kid's ghost for teasing him." Danny said with a tired voice as he put down his only half eaten meal. "Most exorcist have personal vendettas against demons. They don't care about right and wrong, if you are a demon then you are wrong by default. I've seen several rather innocent demons die without ever having the chance to explain themselves. Ones that had lived peacefully in Assiah for hundreds of years. Doesn't seem very fair if you ask me."   
  
Izumo could understand a little. If all of the Byakkos from her family's shrine were exorcized, she wouldn't know how she would take it. Even though they were demons they were like her extended family. "You know, that was actually how exorcists were described to me when I first heard about them." Izumo admitted.   
  
Danny glanced over at her. "Then why do you want to become an exorcist?" He asked calmly.   
  
"I... I don't talk about it." Izumo said harshly.   
  
"Sorry I asked. It was really none of my business anyways." Danny said, sensing her strong distress again. There was something there but it wasn't something she could talk about. "But if you ever need help... or just someone to talk to... you know..." Danny mumbled scratching the back of his neck.   
  
Izumo froze up. She had never trusted anyone who had offered her help. Not after 'that' day. But... maybe Danny was different. He had gone out of his way and put himself in danger before in order to protect them. So... "Thanks... but no thanks." Izumo said turning her head away. "I can manage on my own."   
  
From over by the cooler Rin watched the exchange with the other guys, though none of them could hear what was being said. "Since when have those two been so chummy?" Bon said in his normal harsh voice and glare.   
  
"I don't know. Maybe Izumo likes younger guys." Konekomaru said with a shrug.   
  
"No... please no." Renzo said as he sat there crying crocodile tears.   
  
Rin didn't really know what to think. But he supposed that Danny had the right to do whatever he wanted. He was just glad it wasn't Shiemi.   
  
"Alright everyone gather around, and we can start the training exercise!" Yukio shouted to get everyone's attention. The exwires all got up and began to walk too him. They were ready for the next stage of their training... except for Renzo how was still crying about Izumo.


	31. Chapter 31

So, now that you are all finished with dinner, we can start to explain the training." Yukio said, maintaining his professional manner as the students gather around him.   
  
Sadly, Shura was not as professional. "In other words, it’s a test of courage, I dare you!" Shura laughed as she swung around her eighth beer of the night.   
  
"Shura you're on duty." Yukio said flatly. Then he noticed that Danny wasn't paying any attention either and was listening American rock music on his Ipod. "We're supposed to be working." He added, trying to keep his voice level.   
  
"Hey! Did she say she was eighteen! That makes her a minor!" Bon shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the female instructor.   
  
"Trust me Bon Bon, in this line of work, dying from drinking is the least of our worries." Danny said rolling his eyes.   
  
But Yukio grabbed onto a different part of it. "What? Eighteen, don't be ridiculous, this year she turned twenty si..." Yukio started when an empty beer flew through the air and hit him in the head.   
  
"Nyah, my hand slipped." Shura said in a non apologetic voice.   
  
"You should know better than to talk about a girl's age. Scaredy Cat." Danny said with a dismissive shrug. Using Shura's nickname for Yukio, because it never failed to piss him off.   
  
"Oi... you two cut the crap and get to work...!" Yukio growled, losing all professionalism as his anger got the better off him. His face twisting into an evil glare. Though he was then immediately embarrassed about losing his cool in front of his students and letting them see what he is really like.   
  
"Yay! We made him mad!" Shura cheered as she waved her hands around in the air in her drunken state. Danny grinned as he turned up the volume some more on his Ipod.   
  
Yukio coughed into his hand to trying to regain his poise before continuing. "Now then... I'll start the explanation. You will all departing the base in different directions and go into the woods. There you will find and light the lanterns that you can get somewhere within the forest, then you return with the lantern before sunrise." Yukio said as he started his explanation. "You will have three days to complete this test. The people who can get the lanterns and return to base safely will be granted the right to participate in real combat missions. However, there are only three lanterns. In other words, there are only three slots for people participating in the real missions."   
  
"Wha... but that's." Konekomaru whimpered.   
  
"Moving on, I will brief you on the contents of your shoulder bags that we distributed earlier." Yukio said, not giving everyone time to panic. "You will find three days' worth of water and food, a sleeping bag and other basic necessities, as well as a compass, a flashlight, and one demon repelling firework." He said clearly. "As I've said, at night the forest becomes a nest for lower level demons. At your current level you have a slim chance of succeeded in this exercise. But if you think that you are in danger, please make use of the firework. It will protect you from the demons while either Mr. Fenton, Ms. Kirigakure, or myself will come and collect you. Any questions?"   
  
"Um... sir. Why is there only one match stick?" Konekomaru asked the middle of the three teachers.   
  
"If you use the firework, you won't be able to light the lantern. So please think wisely before using it." Yukio said a mechanical smile. "Think about your strengths and use them to the fullest. That is the only way of clearing this camp." Yukio concluded.   
  
Everyone started moving about and getting ready to go. "Isn't it simple?" Rin wondered out loud.   
  
Shura gave a drunk like laugh and moved up next to Rin, putting her arm around him and pulling him in closer to her face. "Oh, yer don't understan', do you?" She said confusing Rin as he struggled in an embarrassed manner. "This isn't going to be anything like the exwire exam. Yer'll blow yer cover in that big... dark... forest." She said, causing Rin's eyes to widened as she her voice no longer sounded drunk.   
  
"I'm an inspector, and I'm on duty. So if anyone finds out you have satanic powers, then that's it. I'd have to go to the Vatican and tell them everything I know. Then they will send the Paladin an' the Archknights to comin’ and kill yer. And trust me when I say that they are scarier than any demon." Shura warned him. "So yer better not be flaming up out there."   
  
She then walked away from him, back to her pill of beers. Rin slowly moved back towards the others as he thought about what Shura had said. He knew he shouldn't use his flames, but the problem was, that was almost all he had to combat demons. Even with his inhuman strength, there wasn't much he could do.   
  
"Rin, are you alright?" Jazz asked as he reached them.   
  
"Yeah, where'd all that energy from earlier go to? You scared?" Bon said, taunting Rin out of his slump.   
  
"What!? No way!" Rin said straightening up.   
  
"Listen." Bon said loud enough for all the students to hear. "This training was devised with the intention for us to try and snatch the lanterns from each other. However, once the scramble starts, it will mainly be us taking each other out." Bon said as they all looked at each other. "Think only of one's self! That's how it has got to be! We mustn't help each other!"   
  
"No matter what happens, don't bear a grudge." Renzo joked.   
  
"I don't really think that is the intention, but since I don't really care about combat missions anyways, I'll go along with it." Jazz said said as she took her position.   
  
"There are only three slots, and all of us, huh? You now, I like those odds." Izumo said in a cocky manner as she re-tied her hair into one ponytail.   
  
"Ready... get set..." Yukio shouted before firing his gun up into the air. The signal to go. The eight exwires all ran off in different directions as the test began.   
  
"Great, all our students are idiots." Danny said with a sigh.   
  
"Already told yer so." Shura said as she took a swig. "So how long do yer think it will be until Rin flames up?"   
  
"About twenty minutes or so." Danny said with a shrug.   
  
Yukio gritted his teeth. He only just now realized he was going to have to spend the next three nights alone with his two least favorite people in Assiah. He hated his life.

 

* * *

 

Rin had hardly gotten twenty feet out of the edge of the magic circle when he was swarmed by hundreds of moths. He could feel them trying to bite him, but his thicker demon skin made then no more than an annoyance, on that was difficult to deal with when you only had a wooden sword as your disposal.   
  
"Back off already!" Rin growled as he swung his wooden sword left and right. Trying to see where he was going. The moths were clearly demons, he could hear their chatter, though he couldn't understand it, since it wasn't very intelligent.   
  
But just as the blood sucking moths were starting to get the fact that his skin made Rin more trouble than he was worth. He heard a scream piece the forest. "Shiemi!" He shouted as he dashed as fast as he could in the direction he heard the scream coming from. "Shiemi! Shiemi, what's wrong! Answer me dammit!" Rin shouted as he looked around the forest before spotting a giant pile of moths.   
  
"Get away, Dammit!" Rin shouted as he swung his wooden sword with enough force to blow the insects away. Shiemi was lying on the ground unconscious were the insects had been. "Shiemi, get a hold of yourself!" Rin shouted in a panic as he turned her over. He froze as he saw blood dripping down from her forehead.   
  
Then he understood a few words of what the insects were saying. "Bitch, you gonna die..."   
  
Anger boiled up inside of Rin. Stronger than ever before. "Get out of my sight!" He roared and blue flames erupted from his body, incinerating all the nearby moths. Destroying not only their bodies, but burning their souls so that they didn't even return to Gehenna. They were simply wiped from existence. He immediately realized his mistake and quickly turned off the flames. A task that had become as easy as taking a deep breath after Danny had forced him to master it when his sword was drawn. 'Damn, I can't believe I used my flames again.' Rin criticized himself. 'I'm really no better that I was as a kid.' But there was no time for a pity party, he had to check on Shiemi. "Shiemi, are you okay?" He said, trying to wake her, but not wanting to move her without knowing what her condition was.   
  
But he nearly jumped out of his skin when her head a voice behind him. "You..." Rin whipped his head around to see Bon standing there with a dazed expression on his face. "What on Earth was that?"   
  
Rin's blood turned from fire into ice as one horrified thought moved through his head. 'I... I was seen.'


	32. Chapter 32

“H...hey." Rin said nervously as his heart was trying to decide if now was the moment to speed up or shut off completely. He couldn't believe he had been spotted. After all the times Danny had warned him about keeping his emotional flares in check, he had just burst into flames so easily.   
  
But there was a huge difference between just Danny working his buttons and seeing Shiemi hurt. Danny had even told Rin that all that training would probably not stop his first flare up in the field, but he hadn't realized just how right he was.   
  
However, Bon next words were not accusing. "Is Moriyama alright?" He asked looking at the girl.   
  
"Huh... yeah I think so. Though her head is bleeding." Rin said, before starting to hold his breath. Was he lucky enough to have gotten away with it?   
  
"Hey stupid, switch off your flashlight. The moths are attracted to it." Bon hissed loudly.   
  
"Oh... right." Rin said as he did as he was told.   
  
"Anyways, did you see that light just now?" Bon asked as he looked around for whatever might have been the source. "It just came out of nowhere and it was so bright I was practically blinded. I couldn't see what it was."   
  
"Wh...who knows! I couldn't see it well either!" Rin said a little more loudly than necessary. "It's probably that... y'know... 'that' uhhh... What was 'that' called again...?"   
  
Bon surprisingly didn't find this all that suspicious, considering it wasn't too different from the way Rin usually acted.   
  
"So what did you come here for anyways?" Rin asked Bon in order to change the subject.   
  
"What for..!? I came here to help!" Bon yelled as if it was a no brainer.   
  
"But weren't you the one who said he wasn't going to help anyone?" Rin pointed out.   
  
"S...Shut up! Who could ignore a scream like that!? She sounded like she was gonna die!" Bon shouted as he turned completely red from embarrassment.   
  
"Try not to yell, Bon. Even if the lights are off, the demons can still hear you." Both Bon and Rin jumped as Jazz walked out of the bushes and went straight over to Shiemi. She opened up her bag, pulling out disinfectant and bandages, before started to work in the girl's wounds.   
  
"Jazz, it’s good to see you, is Shiemi going to be okay?" Rin asked trying to look over the older girl's shoulder to see what she was doing.   
  
"She has had a pretty hard blow to the head, but I don't think we need to worry. The wounds aren't deep and I've seen humans pop right back up from much worse than this." Jazz said in a soothing voice as she carefully wrapped the bandages around the girl's head before checking for any other signs of damage.   
  
"That's a relief." Rin said with a long sigh. "Hear that Bon, Shiemi's going to be alright. You should go on ahead. Once Jazz is done I'll carry Shiemi back to base."   
  
Bon gritted his teeth. "Why you..." He grumbled thinking of how he was just left out when Rin and Jazz did all the hero work during the Exwire exam, while they blew him off.   
  
But before Bon could say anything else, Shiemi started to steer. "Shiemi, are you ok!?" Rin asked only to have his ear pulled by Jazz.   
  
"Bedside voices, Rin." She scolded his quietly. "Shiemi, are you alright?"   
  
"Rin..? Jazz..? Where are... Nii!" She cried as she scrambled around, finding the torn up pieces of her summoning circle paper. "Nii..." She cried weakly. Rin was starting to panic from his natural fear of seeing people cry when Bon stepped in.   
  
"You know you can summon the same familiar again if you still have the magic circle. No need to panic." Bon said to calm the girl down.   
  
"R...right!" Shiemi said starting to see if she could find any of the papers in her bag. "Wha... some of my stuff is missing. I wonder if they fell out when I was attacked..."   
  
"You were attacked... by those moths?" Rin asked in a worried voice.   
  
"Those little moths aren't what hit her." Jazz said with a level of certainty. "Shiemi can you come here so I can do a quick check up. I want to be sure you didn't get a concussion."   
  
Shiemi nodded and was doing as Jazz told her to do. "I was hit on the back of the head by something and I blackout. I didn't get a good look at it... but it seemed to be a giant moth." She said as she followed Jazz's finger with her eyes.   
  
"She seems to be fine. I think she can continue if that is what she wants to do." Jazz said as she started to put away her things.   
  
Just a lot of sound came from the nearby bushes and something jumped out of it. "Get down!" Rin shouted, quickly jumping in front of the girls and deflecting a strike from the unknown attacker. It bounced off of Rin and flipped through the air to land on the ground a short distance away.   
  
Then there was a small popping sound and the figure fell to the ground. Jazz was holding her gun, pointed straight at it. But it was Bon how first realized what it was. "Oh no, you shot Shima."   
  
Renzo Shima was laying sprawled out on the ground with his butt held high in the air and a dart was sticking out of it, his staff to one side as his flashlight rolled out of his mouth.   
  
"Oops..." Jazz said a little guiltily as she looked down at the pink haired monk. "It... it was only a tranquilizer..." She mumbled as Bon went to turn off the light and check on his friend. Jazz found the counter agent in her bag along with some smelling salt to walk the pink haired monk up.   
  
"Oh god that smell." He gagged as he turned his head away from the stuff. "Huh? Guys... were are we?"   
  
"Shima! What was all that about?" Bon demanded.   
  
"I... A swarm of moths surrounded me... and after that... I don't remember." Renzo admitted.   
  
"Oh yeah, you really hate bugs." Bon said remembering his friend's weakness. After that both Bon and Renzo's phones started to go off. "I got a text... from Konekomaru." Bon said looking up at the three who didn't get the message. "He says he's found a lantern... and that we need to work together on this one."

 

* * *

 

"He only lasted ten minutes!" Shura laughed as Danny just shook his head in disbelief.   
  
"Only half as long as I guessed." Danny said leaning back.   
  
Shura looked over at the younger Okumura brother who was frozen to the spot with horror. "Ha, Don't worry about it. It's so dark it doesn't matter if anyone saw it, they'll be too blinded ta actually see it properly..." Shura said waving her beer in the boy's direction.   
  
"...I feel like Rin is reaching the limit of hiding his abilities." Yukio said rubbing his hand through his hair as he tried to calm down.   
  
"Well his demon heart is just about to fully awaken. I'm surprised he has as much control as he does, all things considered." Danny said with a shrug. "But this is all good experience for him. He'll understand the importance of his future training to keep himself under control as he uses more and more of his flames."   
  
"No! He shouldn't be using them at all!" Yukio barked glaring daggers at Danny. "Once everything gets out Rin will be killed, and even if he isn't, he won't be able to go back to living a life as a normal human anymore! So why do you insist on making him use more and more of his demonic powers!"   
  
"News flash worry moles, he ain't a normal human." Danny said coldly. "And what's so wrong with that? You act like it would be the end of the world if he wasn't human. Get your head out of your ass and wipe the shit out of your eyes. Rin is Rin. Doesn't matter if he is a human or an angel or the devil himself, he's still a nice guy. In fact, the main problem he has with controlling his flames comes from you."   
  
"Me!?" Yukio shouted in indignation.   
  
"You're constantly trying to make him afraid of his flames. But they are a part of who he is. They aren't Satan's, they are his. So how about you stop being such a Scaredy Cat and just let him grow up." Danny growled at Yukio. Yukio reached for his gun, and Danny on his feet the next moment his short sword at the ready. But they were cut off by Shura yelling at them.   
  
"Would yer two knock it off! I'm way too drunk ta deal with this!" She said, a murderous aura pushing out of her. The two boys weighed their options and they both put their weapons away.   
  
"I won't let you put my brother's life in danger." Yukio growled.   
  
"Trust me, if he is put in danger, it won't be because of me." Danny said, his eyes shifting to the right and looking at a point just above the tree-line. Shura looking in the same direction.

 

* * *

 

"It looks like you weren't able to stop them from noticing us this time, Big Brother." Amaimon said from his perch a few miles away from the clearing. "That insolent woman and brat... I should kill them..."   
  
"No you shall not." Mephisto said clearly. "If you kill even one of them, then I well certainly kill you."   
  
"Understood. Sorry Big Brother." Amaimon said quickly. He knew not to pick a fight with Mephisto. Even it the lower five kings all united against him, Mephisto would slaughter them all. Only Lucifer and Satan overpower the Demon King of time.   
  
"My my, you sure tucked in your tail quickly there." Amaimon glared over at his other older brother who joined them up in the tree. Beelzebub, the King of insects, had the appearance of a twenty year old man with bluish skin and a sharp chin. Unlike his more well groomed brothers, Beelzebub was dressed entirely in black leather, a leather biker jacket and pants with spiked steel toed shoes and fingerless gloves. His midlength wiry gray hair was being held back out of his eyes by a pair of goggles that looked a lot like insect eyes.   
  
"Not like you're any better," Amaimon growled, losing his usual emotionless demeanor. Even though by a rule, Earth demons usually had an advantage against insect demons, Beelzebub was still stronger than Amaimon, though not by enough for the Earth King to feel threatened, but enough to make him mad.   
  
"Oh come on little bro, don't be such a drag. Didn't we call this little family reunion so that we could all have a bit of fun?" Beelzebub asked with a wide grin that showed several of his hollowed out daggers for teeth. Beelzebub was a blood drinker, just like many of his kin.   
  
"Beelzebub, have you had a chance to speak with the master of the forest?" Mephisto asked.   
  
"Don't worry man, all the preparations have been set up. My home boys have got this." Beelzebub said with a wide smile. "Them exorcists won't know what hit them."   
  
"Good, do want ever you want until it is time for the main event." Mephisto said turning away from him.   
  
"Don't I away? Later sibs." Beelzebub said before falling down out of the tree and straight onto a slick black and red motorcycle that was waiting there for him, before he started driving away.   
  
"I don't like him." Amaimon said regaining his monotone voice now that the object of his hatred was gone. "You do realize he will betray us to Lucifer. Beelzebub has always been a brown noser to our biggest brother."   
  
"Don't you worry, he won't even get the chance to. He's only here to keep Danny away from you while you fight with Rin." Mephisto said simple. "But I believe that Danny will be able to beat him before Beelzebub has the time to try to steal Rin Okumura way from me."   
  
"Are you sure? He didn't seem all that strong to me. He was just a slippery beast." Amaimon said looking back to where Danny was laying on his back, listening to music.   
  
"I have faith that Danny will show us his true strength before all of this is over. That is why were are all the way out here, were my city will not be at risk. It should be a sight to behold." Mephisto said, a look of hunger on his face.   
  
"Hmm... Well, as long as I get to play with Rin Okumura. None of that matter to me." Amaimon said disinterestedly.   
  
"Well, as long as you don't cause damage to my school, you can play with him as much as you want." Mephisto said with a smile. Before the summer was through, he would have both half demons revealing themselves. In order to protect Rin, Shura would become Rin's instructor, forcing her to stay at Mephisto's school. And Yukio's spirit would be broken from his failures. Everything was going according to plan.   
  
Mephisto's telescopic eyes rested on Shura. "She will be mine."


	33. Chapter 33

"That high and mighty bastard." Beelzebub growled as he bit the top off of a bottle of boar demon blood, spitting the bits of glass to the side as he drank the dark crimson liquid. He couldn't believe that Samael had the nerve to call him up like some kind of yes-man and force a job on him. He was Beelzebub, the sixth King of Gehenna, the lord of the skies.   
  
He had considered openly refusing the smug bastard's demands, but then he had been contacted by his eldest brother, Lucifer. And Lucifer had his own plans.   
  
Not that Samael wouldn't have already guessed that Beelzebub was already in Lucifer's corner in the debate between ridding Assiah of all the weak civilians that clang to it like a plague, or allowing the worlds to continue to exist in its polarized state. Beelzebub was down for anything that would let him feast upon those puny humans.   
  
But the King of Time wasn't able to use his powers to look into the futures of the other Kings or other demons of the highest tiers. So even if he knew that Beelzebub was working for Lucifer, he couldn't know what the King of Insects was after.   
  
He would more than likely assume that he would try to capture Rin Okumura, though in truth, Lucifer didn't even want to have the boy. Their Father had given Samael permission to hold onto the bastard son, and Lucifer, being a being of order, was not going to go against Father's wishes.   
  
The one that Lucifer wanted was the artificial demon created by the Fenton's mistake, the one who had managed to hold his own against Pariah and reseal him. Lucifer wanted Danny Phantom, dead or alive. The boy was vital to Lucifer's plans to create an army of demonized exorcists that would infiltrate and destroy the Vatican from the inside.   
  
Lucifer's organization had already started research to that ends, but so far, only one in every five hundred procedures was a success. And there was only so much he could trick the foolish Fenton 'parents' into doing before even those thick headed morons would start to suspect some foul play.   
  
So the fact that Beelzebub himself was now in the position to snatch the boy up was an opening he didn't want to miss.   
  
Even though he was King of Insects, the most powerful of the insect type demons, he was still only in the top fifty strongest demons in Gehenna, but if he did this job right, Lucifer would reward him greatly. Beelzebub could climb in the ranks and gain power until he was the strongest of the lower five kings. Then after Lucifer and Father took over Assiah, he would be the number three guy. Power, influence, women, and all the humans he could eat. He would have it all.   
  
"Who knows, maybe I can even sneak a bite to eat here before I go." Beelzebub said with a grin. "The group has two tamers... and they're little girls." Beelzebub licked his lips. Tamer blood was a real treat among the blood sucking demons. It was spiritually rich and full of misplaced pride. It being from virgin girls makes it so much the better. He had already gotten a small taste of the blond haired girl's blood when he had knocked her out. It was simply divine. It was a pity he still needed her alive, or else he would have sucked her dry and just left the husk behind for her youngest brother to find.   
  
Beelzebub grinned, his luminous yellow eyes peering through the darkness as he watched the Exwire's progress. His fingers drumming on the handlebars of his ride. Before the sun rose up the next morning, Samael, that human loving fool, would be in for a rude awakening.


	34. Chapter 34

Rin's group had not been going for very long when they had reached Konekomaru. Rin had tried to insist on carrying Shiemi, but the girl didn't wish be be a burden. Leaving the half demon a little disappointed when they left the brush and spotted Konekomaru.   
  
But his mild depression disappeared upon seeing the 'lantern' Konekomaru had found. "That the h...heck is that supposed to be a lantern!" Rin shouted, cutting off his swore words as he remembered Jazz's presence. The 'lantern' was was to put it lightly, huge. Six feet in each direction and made of solid stone with a large circular hole in it were you would put in the wood for the fire.   
  
"It's a stone lantern." Shiemi said in surprise.   
  
"No... it's a 'peg' lantern." Bon said as he walked up to the thing. "A mid rank lesser fire demon. At night, it lies in wait for someone to light it, and once lit, the lantern begins to move and eats any living thing it comes across for fuel. Though it favors women. It only stops moving once it runs out of fuel or when the sun raises."   
  
"That thing is a demon?" Jazz said looking it over. "So how do we light it and carry it back with us, if it starts trying to eat us once lit? I don't think threats will work."   
  
"Konekomaru and I both know a sealing sutra that will keep it still while we move it, but if we are going to do this, then we will all have to work together." Bon said seriously.   
  
"Wait a second Bon, weren't you the one that said 'They'll be no cooperation among us!'?" Renzo teased.   
  
"Shut up! I just didn't understand what they meant when they said there were only three lanterns!" Bon shouted angrily.   
  
"Mr. Okumura never actually said that there was only one lantern per person." Konekomaru added.   
  
"I thought the whole setup seemed a little weird, considering how much they went on about infighting getting us killed." Jazz added as she walked around the lantern.   
  
"...So anyways, now that we now we have to work together. Is there anyone who knows Kamiki or Takara's cell-phone numbers?" Bon asked the group.   
  
"No, I tired to get to know Takara better, but he's really shy." Jazz admitted.   
  
"I've asked for Izumo's countless times, but she always turns me down." Renzo said miserably.   
  
"Shima... when did you ask for her number?" Bon asked, feeling a little annoyed with the Earthly monk.   
  
"Um... I've... I've thought of a formation the six of us could use to carry the lantern for the moment." Konekomaru said nervously.   
  
First, they all loaded the peg lantern into the nearby cart, before sealing it and getting some dried figs inside of it for the beginning fire. After that they used their flashlights to attracted lots of the moths before lighting the flame.   
  
As soon as the flame was lit, Bon placed a talisman on the side of the lantern and started to chant the Buddhist sutra to keep the lantern from waking up. Jazz and Shiemi were told to sit in the cart and gather mouths to feed to the fire as the cart was moved along, while Konekomaru and Renzo walked along either side of the cart, finding off most of the moth hordes. Renzo looking as if he was going to faint at any moment.   
  
Even though they had seen Rin's strength before, they were all a little surprised when he was pulling the cart along at a speed equal to how fast the others could jog.   
  
"Holy cow, Okumura! What planet did you come from!?" Renzo said in a good deal of ah as Rin pulled the cart weighed down with the massive stone lantern and the two girls.   
  
"We can't let our guard down yet. The hardest part is yet to come..." Konekomaru said, sounding more than a little worried as they all moved along the path. Renzo did not like the sound of it.

 

* * *

 

Yukio was staring at his watch. None of the students had come back yet and it was nearly 4am. He looked over to find both Shura and Danny were sound asleep, snoring loudly.   
  
"For christ's sake..." Yukio swore under his breath, furious that the two of them didn't seem to care at all. He hated them. And it was more than just the way they tried him like some naive kid. He worked his ass off to try to improve himself, to try to get stronger so that he could protect his brother. And then after all those years of training, when if finally came down to it, those two lay about completely out classed him. It made everything he had done look so pointless as they took charge of his brother's destiny, teaching him how to use his flames and how to fight with a sword. Encouraging his reckless behavior. It was so frustrating that it made Yukio want to scream.   
  
But he was pulled away from those thought as the scream of a firework could be heard. Yukio looked up into the sky to see one of the fireworks had been launched nearby.   
  
"Wha..?" Shura said drowsily as she pushed herself up from the ground along with Danny. Both of them pushing sleep out of their eyes.   
  
"Looks like someone's given up already. That was quick." Yukio said.   
  
"Alright, so who's going to get them?" Danny said rubbing his head. "One, two, three." "Not it!" Danny and Shura said together.   
  
Yukio glared at the two of them but then sighted. "Fine, but make sure you two stay awake!" He said before walking off in the direction of the firework. He needed to get away from the two of them anyways.   
  
"So... how long are you going to pretend to be drunk?" Danny asked the grown woman after Yukio was gone. Keeping his voice to a near whisper.   
  
"When are you going to stop pretending to be sleeping?" Shura said, no hit of any intoxication in her voice.   
  
"Was hoping the guy would attack sooner if they thought we were off guard, but it seems like he wanted to lure Yukio away first." Danny said quietly as he petted the air next to him, Cujo appearing from the air in his puppy form. The dog had been there all along, monitoring the surrounding demons. "Anything for us to worry about in that direction?" Danny asked his familiar. Cujo gave a few sniffs but barked only once. It was a no. "Figured as much."   
  
"Yeah, my snakes can't find anything over there either." Shura said patting a snake whose back was covered in orange flames. "Just some adult Chuchi that some tamers raised. But they are hardly what I would call a threat. More like just cannon fodder, even for someone on the Scaredy Cat's level." Shura said, sounding unconcerned.   
  
"I can't believe Mephisto authorized this trip. Does he even care at all? I thought it was in his best interests to keep Rin's friends safe. Not much point in making a living weapon if that weapon hates your guts." Danny said as he flopped back on his back again.   
  
"I don't get it either, but we have no choice. If something happens, we will do what we got to do." Shura said, also laying back down. The two of them waited for their enemies attack. Knowing that it would come soon. Until then, the two would move about as little as possible, conserving their energy until the demons chose to strike.

 

* * *

 

The instructors hadn't been the only ones to see the fireworks go off. "I wonder who's given up." Renzo said, latching onto the sight, since it distracted him from thinking about the thousands of bugs that were flying around them.   
  
"Was it Kamiki, or Takara?" Shiemi wondered as she stared at the bright light for a moment.   
  
Rin had been too focused on the firework and had to rear to a sudden halt when he found that the dirt trail had disappeared, and that there was a worn out old bridge in the path between them and the camp.   
  
Bon, not knowing that they were about to stop, ended up running face first into the back of the peg lantern. Surprisingly he didn't stop chanting even as his face was flattened against the stone.   
  
"What are we going to do about this?" Rin shouted. "Looks more like a ladder than a bridge! There's no way the cart's gonna be able to cross that!"   
  
"I'm not even sure if it is safe for people to cross it..." Konekomaru said as he looked at the broken boards, the whole thing was on the verge of rotting away.   
  
They heard a girly squeal and turned to see Renzo trembling as he looked down into the water underneath the bridge. "Wo...wo...worms!" He shrieked. They all looked closer, and what they had assumed to be dark waters, were really billions of larva, all crawling over each other. "Oh... my... god... I think I'm going to pee myself." Renzo said his knees trembling.   
  
"Maybe you would feel better if you did. You never know." Rin said looking over at the pink haired monk.   
  
"Rin, don't say stuff like that. Once someone pees their pants, that's it, game over." Konekomaru said.   
  
But before Renzo even had time to straighten himself up Bon pulled his k'rik out of his hand and started smashing its end into the bug mote. "Holy Crap! What are you doing!?" Renzo shrieked as the smell of piss filled the air.   
  
Bon turned to them all held up a scrap book. One the book he had written the words, 'I have a plan.'

 

* * *

 

"This doesn't make sense." Yukio mumbled as he walked slowly around the spot where the firework had been launched. But there were no signs that any of the exwires had gone that way.   
  
But before he could become too suspicious, all hell broke loose. Dozens of fully grown Chuchis, each with a wing spanned of over fifteen feet were flying over him, preparing to attack. It was an ambush. For some reason, as Yukio pulled out his gun, he couldn't help but feel like he should be angry at Shura. But he couldn't say way.


	35. Chapter 35

"Alright... I'm gonna stand up, so hold on tight..." Rin said glad that Shiemi couldn't see his bright red face in the dark as he started to lift her up on his shoulders. 'Oh man... this is awesome.' The more lustful part of his mind couldn't help but think as his head was tucked tightly between his crushes legs.   
  
As it had turned out, the plan for getting the peg lantern across was fairly simple. They were going to unseal it and have it chase them across, using one of the girls as bait.   
  
At first Jazz had tried to insist upon being the bait instead of Shiemi, until they mentioned that the person would be carried across the bug swamp on Rin's shoulders. After that she let the comment about Shiemi being lighter than her slide, knowing that Rin had a crush on the girl. That, and Jazz wasn't too a very big fan of the idea of her being up on his shoulders.   
  
So after they unloaded the lantern and Rin carried the cart to the other side of the swamp, the half demon boy loaded the girl up onto his back and waded back to the middle of the swamp.   
  
"They're popping..." Renzo moaned with a shudder and he held himself in the fetal position behind a tree near the cart as the sound of the bugs being crushed underneath Rin's feet reached his ears.   
  
"Renzo, I know phobias are supposed to be treated with care to avoid psychological damage... but grow up." Jazz said rolling her eyes.   
  
"Alright... we're ready!" Rin shouted when he had reached the midway point of the swamp.   
  
Bon finally stopped chanting and pulled the seal off of the lantern. "Alright, let's get moving!" Bon shouted, moving away as the lantern started waking up.   
  
The stone circles around the opening in the front moved like eyes blinking before they seemed to lock onto Shiemi. The lantern then made a should close to the neighing of a horse and reared before bounding after Rin and Shiemi who started running through the bugs towards the opposite shore. The 'eyes' seemed to have changed into the shape of cartoon hearts.   
  
"This way..!" Shiemi shouted back to the thing.   
  
"What are you calling out to it for!?" Rin shouted in panic as the lantern was gaining on them.   
  
Reaching the opposite shore, Rin pushed Shiemi up and the lantern jumped over him in order to follow, landing straight in the wagon. Konekomaru quickly slapped a seal on the lantern and began to chant the sutras to strengthen the seal, causing the lantern to freeze up in an instant.   
  
The group gave a collective sigh of relief that it had worked. Bon had came across the bridge as it all happened. "We did it." Shiemi said, looking down into the bugs at Rin and smiling.   
  
"Okumura, I'll help you up." Bon said coming over to the edge of the swamp.   
  
"It’s alright, I'm good." Rin said climbing up the rocks next to the bridge. "Wow, that's a relief." He said leaning against the bridge with one arm.   
  
But they all froze again when there was a loud snapping sound and the bridge began to fall back into the bugs, the seals that had covered the bridge flying off everywhere. "Okumura, what did you do!" Bon shouted at the dazed Rin.   
  
Moments later the surface of the bug swamp exploded as a massive Chuchi burst through the other smaller bugs. The moth's six feelers shot out and wrapped around Rin's limbs, lifting him up into the air.   
  
"Rin!" Shiemi shouted as the others staggered back in surprise.   
  
Rin struggled a bit, but the grip around his hands was to tight for him to do anything. But he still just grinned down at everyone. "I'll be fine! Don't worry, you guys just keep moving and I'll catch up after I've dealt with this!" Rin shouted down at them. "The night's almost over, so you better hurry!" He knew once they were all gone he could use a tiny piece of his fire to burn his hands free and take the thing down with his wooden sword. But he couldn't do anything with the others so close by.   
  
But Bon didn't move, he glared up at Rin, his body starting to tremble. "You're... doing it again..!" He growled.   
  
"Um... my bad?" Rin said as he just continued to smile. "You need to get your head examined! As if we wouldn't help you out!" Bon shouted angrily. Rin was actually surprised by this response. "Shima! Give me your staff!"   
  
Renzo tossed Bon the K'rik and the louder monk bent down to the ground, grabbing a talisman that had been sealing the bridge. Putting it on the end of his staff he threw it at the bugs forehead, canting all the while. "...bukiii! Homage to the all-pervading vajras! Destroy!" He finished his chant and a bolt of lightning came down, hitting the k'rik, passing into the Chuchi so that it let go of Rin and fell down into the swamp. "K'rik!" Bon shouted so that the staff returned to him.   
  
"Wow that was so cool!" Rin shouted, looking over his shoulder in shock as Bon pulled him out of the bugs.   
  
"Hurry up! That's all I can do! We need to get out of here!" Bon shouted at the gawking Rin.   
  
"Huh? But didn't you just kill it?" Rin asked just before the Chuchi jumped back out of the bugs, madder than ever.   
  
"No! So haul ass!" Bon shouted. Rin grabbed the lantern filled cart and they all ran for it as fast as they could.

 

* * *

 

"It... it doesn't look like... it's still following us..." Konekomaru said through gasps of breath once they had lost the giant bug. All the boys were panting for air, though the girls had been in the cart, being pulled along by Rin.   
  
"Thanks for the save." Rin said, grinning at Bon.   
  
"What are you talking about..? I was just returning the favor." Bon said as he wiped sweat from his brow. It took a moment for Rin to even remember what he was talking about. But eventual he did recall when him and Bon first became 'friends'. He had jumped in front of a Leaper demon in order to save Bon's life when the blond monk had done something incredibly stupid in the name of determination. "You have the same childish dream of 'defeating Satan' as me, and yet you yelled it without any embarrassment..." Bon said as he regained his footing.   
  
"Well, an idiot like me doesn't really think too deeply about those kinds of things." Rin said, rubbing the back of his head and laughing.   
  
"I don't think you're an idiot." Bon mumbled. Rin looked at Bon as if he had grown another head. "But you're stupid if you think you can do everything by yourself!" Bon shouted angrily as reality corrected itself and his usual glare returned. "Don't forget that you have friends!"   
  
Rin stood there, stunned at Bon's words. He couldn't even remember the last time someone had called him a friend. He wasn't even sure it had ever happened. His shocked continued as the others started to speak up.   
  
"That's right." Konekomaru said. "If you're going to defeat Satan, you can't do it by yourself." He said, thought the bald monk still doubted that they would actually do it.   
  
"Count on Bon to say something as cool as that." Renzo said, giving Rin a thumbs up. "Just make sure there are no bugs involved."   
  
"Don't forget me." Jazz said. "And Danny too, if you can motivate him."   
  
"Good luck doing that." Bon mumbled.   
  
"Everyone's with you, Rin." Shiemi said with her gentle smile.   
  
"Yeah..." Rin said. He felt... happy. Happier than he had been in a long time. But... at the same time he couldn't help but wonder. 'What if...What if everybody knew I was the son of Satan?' He already knew that it didn't matter to Jazz, but that's because her brother was the same way, an incredibly powerful demon. And Jazz was more than just a friend. She was family.   
  
But what about the others? Would they still stand beside him if they knew what he was, or would they turn against him and try to kill him? To be honest... he didn't know. Yukio had been constantly saying that everyone would tell him he should have never been born or even try to kill him themselves, Jazz said that as long as they knew him before hand then it wouldn't matter, and Danny... Danny refused to speak on the subject.   
  
So in the end, Rin was conflicted at hearing everyone's decorations of friendship. Because... it would make it hurt that much more if they did turn their backs on him.

 

* * *

 

"Yay! We got back safe and sound!" Renzo cried with relief as they all finally walked back into came.   
  
The rest of them looked more confused and embarrassed as they saw Danny and Shura sitting there, along with Izumo and Takara, each having their own personal lantern behind them. "Oh, you managed to make it back. Good work." Shura said   
  
"What the hell!? You guys already passed!?" Bon shouted angrier than ever.   
  
"You're slow. I just used my familiars to carry it for him. Takara got here before me though." Izumo said glancing over at the ventriloquist exorcist.   
  
"Ha! It took you this long to with this many people!? You're all totally pathetic!" Takara said through his usual means of his bunny hand puppet.   
  
"Why you..." Bon growled.   
  
"Just what is Takara anyways?" Konekomaru said as he stared embarrassed at the even smaller boy.   
  
Rin helped Shiemi down off of the cart. "Ouch..." She said holding the back of her neck.   
  
"You okay?" Rin asked a little worried that the head injury from earlier had gotten worse with everything that happened.   
  
"I'm fine." Shiemi said, waving off his concern.   
  
"Huh? Wait just a minute... isn't this everyone?" Shura said, looking over the group.   
  
"Yeah... now that you mention it, no one's given up." Konekomaru said as he looked over the group.   
  
"But then... who was it that used the firework?" Renzo asked.   
  
Danny who had been laying on the ground shot up. "Shura, they're coming! Two... no three of them!" He shouted as he jumped to his feet, pulling out a sword from seemingly nowhere.   
  
"Oh, you ruined the surprise!" Amaimon shouted as he fell down from the sky with a large goblin at the end of a chain beside him.   
  
"Stop whining, we'll still get to have our fun." Beelzebub said as he also lighted down on the ground, only his body didn't seem to create the same shaking of the ground as Amaimon's.   
  
"Shut up! Go get them Behemoth!" Amaimon shouted, taking the chain and mussel off of the goblin, which immediately rushed the nearest people, which happened to be Rin and Shiemi. Rin trying to shield the girl with his body.   
  
"Cujo!" Danny shouted and the hellhound dropped its invisibly and assumed its full size before jumping on the goblin, swinging it around it his jaws before throwing it away, out of the bounds of the magic circle.   
  
"About time they got their thumbs out of their asses! I'd gotten tired of waiting for them!" Shura said, shocking the students before she lifted up her hand and did a dog whistle. A snake covered in fire pushed its way out of the camp fire and into the middle of the magic circle where it burst into a bright flaming cross on the ground. After that the outer magic circle began to glow and with a burst of white light all the nearby demons were pushed away from the camp.   
  
Mephisto was laughing as his two younger brothers landing in the trees beneath him. "I was hoping to elegantly enjoy my tea while watching the show unfold, but it doesn't seem to be going as planned." He mocked them as he sat in his flouting arm chair, drinking hot tea. "She's quite good, isn't she?"   
  
"I'll kill her." Amaimon growled as his anger started to get the better of him.   
  
"You cause her any lasting harm, and I will slaughter you myself." Mephisto said sternly. "She is one of my play things, and I will not have you breaking her."   
  
"Got it. Sorry, I'll control myself." Amaimon said quickly, afraid for his life.   
  
"Jeez bro, just make sure you use protection. Don't want to catch anything from the town slu..." Beelzebub started but then noticed his older brother's face. It was 'the rape face', the one he used to tell people they were on thin ice, and that he would happily rip their souls to shreds if they kept going. "Got it, don't touch your ass." Beelzebub said with a gulp.   
  
The two lesser Demon Kings got themselves together and prepared themselves for the next assault, leaving Mephisto with his tea. Mephisto looked down at the female exorcist.   
  
Shura was more than just a pair of tits... well, she was a very fine pair of tits, but she was also one of the most skilled exorcists in the world. She was able to earn high rank qualifications in Knight, Aria, Doctor, and Tamer. Her demon sword was the vessel of one of the most powerful eastern demons, the eight headed serpent which had eight separate demon hearts, one of each major type. She was also the heiress to a clan of skilled female ninjas. And on top of all that, she was the third in line for gaining the title of Paladin and had a decent amount of political power in the Vatican as well.   
  
Yes, she was a valuable ass...et, and Mephisto was going to make full use of her.


	36. Chapter 36

Shura grinned to herself as she saw the demons blasted away. "That magic circle is meant to protect anyone standing inside it, it's a protective barrier that'll repel just about anything. So we'll be safe for the moment." Shura said confidently.   
  
"Not so sure about that, Yamada. We had only plan on there being one of them. But two? They just don't want to play fair." Danny said as he pet Cujo's head.   
  
"So is this also part of our training? Don't you think this is a little too hard for us?" Renzo said starting to sweat.   
  
"More importantly, wasn't that the same demon from the Mephy Land?" Izumo asked, trembling a little as she remembered the demon's power.   
  
"Training time is over. Right now we've got to get ready for Amaimon and Beelzebub's next attacks." Shura said as she tired up her hair.   
  
"A...Amaimon... Beelzebub..." Izumo said as she started to shake.   
  
"I'll have to use triple C concentrated holy water to help reinforce the protection. Everyone, come here!" Shura said as she lifted up a large eight gallon jug of Holy Water.   
  
"Hold on! Are you talking about the Demon Kings, the 'King of Earth' and the 'King of Insects'!? They are the demons we just saw!?" Izumo shouted in panic. Most of the other students looked like they were freaking out as well.   
  
"Don't worry, this isn't our first time handling Demon Kings!" Danny said waving off the concern. "Yamada and I are more than capable of handling the two of them, and as we've already said, they aren't getting through this barrier, so we can just sit tight and wait for backup!"   
  
"Casper's right about that. But this these guys are big shots, you exwires don't really stand much of a chance. So we've got to reinforce our defenses." Shura said before she started throwing the holy water over everyone, completely drowning them in it.   
  
"Why are such important guys... going after us?" Izumo asked as the water was thrown over her.   
  
"Please tell me this is all a joke." Renzo said looking as if he was going to wet his pants again.   
  
Shura was about to throw some on Rin but stopped herself just in time. "Wow, that was a close one. We'd have been in trouble if I had got any on you." She said as she turned away and put the water down. "'In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth...'" She said, making the the cross over her chest. "There, that done, so no matter what happens to you, any damage you receive should be minimum until the Holy Water dries."   
  
"Aren't you going to put anything on Okumura or Danny?" Bon asked, noticing they were both dry.   
  
"Um... yeah... you see, Rin's allergic to Holy Water. And putting any on Casper would just be a waste." Shura said with a shrug.   
  
"Allergic to holy water!?" Bon shouted in a disbelieving tone.   
  
"Anyways, what about Yukio?" Rin asked both wanting to change the subject and wanting to know where his brother was.   
  
"He was just going to get in the way, so we sent him to go off somewhere." Shura said with a shrug.   
  
"What!?" Everyone shouted at her lack of concern.   
  
"Don't worry, Yukio is about two miles in that direction. The big shot demons are over there. They aren't going after him." Danny said pointing in the directions were he could sense demon activity. "He'll be fine as long as he keeps his head down."   
  
"I can't get through to any of our emergency contacts." Izumo said as she punched number after number into her phone but didn't get anything but static.   
  
"Strong miasmas interfere with radio waves. You're not going to be able to get a signal." Danny said with a small shrug. "Doesn't matter, we've got enough food and water here to last us a week if needed, and people will realize something's wrong when we don't report in." Danny walked over and flopped down on the ground near the girl.   
  
"So you're just going to lay there! You want us to sit on our hands while they got us cornered!" Bon shouted angrily. "Why don't you stop being such a lazy piece of crap, and do something!?"   
  
"That would just be wasting energy. You all need to just relax. All this panicking is just wasting energy. Grab one of Yamada's beers and take a load off." Danny said waving the monk off, though he really wanted the guy to shut up so he could concentrate on the demons' positions. They were nearby, but they weren't moving. Not one bit.   
  
"Like hell they can have my beer." Shura said pulling the cooler closer to her and pulling out one of the cans.   
  
"Your drinking... at a time like this?" Renzo asked, rather shocked.   
  
"We might be around for the long run, but the ice isn't going to be. I'm not drinking warm beer." Shura said as she popped one open and started to drink.   
  
"You all just came back from an all nighter. So get some sleep. You'll need it." Danny said calmly. The students didn't seem to like it, but after Jazz when ahead and lied down, using the giant Cujo as a pillow, the rest of them slowly brought out their sleeping bags and lied down on top of them, though none of them slept.   
  
"So... what do you think they are planning." Danny said from over by Shura at the cooler. Danny had his own set of worries. Yes he could hold his own against a Demon King, but not in his human form. If he wanted to stand a chance he would need to show his demon side to the others. And if he wanted to take them both at once... That would definitely land him dead in the dirt.   
  
"Don't know." She admitted taking another sip from her beer.   
  
But Rin had moved over to them. "Hey... I don't know why, but most likely I was the target of those demons." Rin said. His concern was clear in his face. He was worried that people were going to get hurt because of him.   
  
"Well that's obvious, but don't worry. I set up this barrier with Amaimon in mind, and it is should still be effective on Beelzebub." Shura said waving off the boy's concern. "Still, they seems to have a plan this time around. So the next time they attack, I want you to take the Koumaken and leave as fast as you can, leave the fighting to me and Casper."   
  
"Koumanken?" Rin said, a little confused having never heard the swords name before.   
  
Shura put her hand over her belly button. "'Go below there and you will arrive where he is at.'" She chanted causing Rin's cloth covered demon sword to be pushed out of her belly. "Here, take it." Shura said, holding it out to Rin. But the Satan spawn hesitated staring at the blade, remembering how he had lost control the last time it had been drawn. "What's wrong? Take it." The red haired exorcist said shaking it in front of him.   
  
"D...didn't you say you'd only give it back to me if I defeated you!?" Rin shouted, trying to make excuses not to take it.   
  
"Rin, women say a lot of things. And it would be years before you could bet her using just a wooden sword." Danny said with a laugh.   
  
"Besides, my other condition was that I could give it back to you according to my own judgment." Shura said waving the sword underneath Rin's nose. "So what's wrong? Come on and take it. I already told you I'd give it back." Shura said in a sing song voice.   
  
"You wanted me to suppress my flames, right?" Rin said in a harsh voice, but one that wouldn't travel very fair. "You advised me to 'put out my flames', didn't you?"   
  
"Shut up. Even though I said that you still let your flames out before anyways. Come on, you can't lie to me." Shura laughed.   
  
"Rin, guys like you and me can stand up to even the Demon Kings, but how do you think we are supposed to that if we don't use our demonic powers." Danny said, looking over at Rin. He could feel that the boy's demon heart was about to explode, but they didn't have time to be careful. "If you need your sword out there, but don't have it, then people could die. And it would be your fault for failing to protect them."   
  
Rin's eyes widened in horror at what Danny had just said. "I... I..." Rin stammered but before he could finish a thought someone distracted him.   
  
"Moriyama, where are you going!?" Renzo shouted.   
  
The three who had been talking at the cooler all turned their heads to see Shiemi walking out of the edge of the magic circle. "Oi! Somebody stop here!" Shura shouted, but it was too late. She was out of the circle and the two demon kings jumped down from the trees, resting on either side of her. Amaimon putting an arm over here and pulling her head into his chest.   
  
"Shiemi!" Rin shouted, about to run out after her, but Shura put her sword in the way, blocking his path.   
  
"Bastards! What did you do to her!?" Shura shouted.   
  
"Calm your tits, we didn't do much. Just had a female Chuchi lay an egg inside of her." Beelzebub said, in a smug tone of voice.   
  
"Although it took forever to finally hatch, now that the parasites are living on her nervous system, she will do whatever we say." Amaimon said as she gently brushed the blond tamer's hair. His eyes dead fixed on Rin to see his reaction.   
  
"Parasite demon..." Danny said as if it was a curse. The thing had been so weak that it had gone completely underneath both his and Cujo's radars.   
  
"Up we go!" Amaimon said, scooping Shiemi up so that she was sitting on one of his arms before both he and Beelzebub jumped off.   
  
"Wait you pointy headed bastard!" Rin shouted as he rushed out of the circle after them, Danny right at his heels as the other kids stared in shock.   
  
"What are you idiots doing!? Wait up!" Shura shouted at them as she followed behind.   
  
Before they had gotten far, Behemoth jumped out of the bushes and attacked Rin only to be swatted aside by Shura. "You two go on ahead. I'll catch up once I'm done with this." She shouted as she tossed Rin his sword.   
  
"Alright!" Rin shouted before continuing towards Shiemi.   
  
Shura turned back to the bushes to find that the far sized goblin had grown to be the size of a small house. "Great..." She said as she got ready to take it down.   
  
"Okumura!" Bon shouted from inside of the barrier.   
  
"Don't even think about leaving that barrier!" Shura yelled at him.   
  
"No... no way..." Bon said as he watched the retreating forms of the two black haired half demons.   
  
"Don't worry... just have some faith in them." Jazz said gently. But Bon saw that she was trembling. "Come on you two... come back safe."   
  
"Wait!" Rin shouted as he ran along the ground, keeping his eyes on the Demon Kings as they jumped effortlessly from tree branch to tree branch. "What are you going to do with Shiemi?"   
  
The two demons stopped and turned to face their pursuers. "Y'know, that's a pretty damn good question. So little brother, know that we have this piece of shit human girl, what we going to do with her?" Beelzebub said scratching his steely hair, causing what must have been lice to fall out.   
  
"Hmm..? I know, I will make her my bride!" Amaimon declared.   
  
"Whaaat!?" Rin shouted emotions mixing together.   
  
"Calm yourself, Rin." Danny warned as he felt Rin's flames nearing the surface.   
  
"Now that it has been decided, time for the vows." Amaimon said turning to the girl in his arms. "Do you take me, in sickness and in health, to love, to honour, and help? Do you swear to uphold this vow, till death do us part?" Shiemi's body nodded. "And now, let's seal our vow with a kiss..."   
  
Amaimon leaned in towards the girl with mouth open wide and his long tongue sticking out.   
  
Rin snapped and jumped up thirty feet into the air, trying to bring down his sheathed sword on the Demon King’s head. "Don't... screw around!" Rin shouted. The blow was dead on in the center of Amaimon's face, but the demon didn't even budge an inch.   
  
"'Don't screw around'?" Amaimon repeated before punching Rin hard enough to send him flying through several trees. "That's my line."   
  
Beelzebub was laughing, having fun with messing with these kids. "That was so fucked up!" He laughed loudly. "Honestly, don't joke around about marriage, when I'm just going to eat her after all this is done."   
  
Beelzebub barely noticed that Danny had ran up the side of the tree next to his and had swung his blade, aiming at the demon's throat. But Beelzebub did a step back to be just out of reach and when the second swing come he caught the blade between to fingers. Without Danny's demonic powers, he was just out of his league. "Is that are you got, Pariah's bane?" Beelzebub taunted the boy before pulling him around by the sword and kicking him full force in the same direction as Rin.   
  
Rin had just started getting up out of the crater he had been knocked into in the rock when Danny flew into him, knocking them both down hard.   
  
Bon had been watching in wide eyed horror as it all happened. "Damnit!" He shouted and began to walk towards the edge of the magic circle.   
  
"What the hell are you doing!? She told us not to leave the barrier no matter what!" Izumo shouted at Bon.   
  
"Bon! Don't be stupid!" Konekomaru shouted.   
  
Renzo ran up and grabbed onto Bon's shirt, pulling him back. "Bon! Just cool it, okay?" He said, worry written all over his face.   
  
But when Bon turned to his with the most pissed off face he had ever seen in his entire life he let go in shock. "Calm down! I'm too frigging pissed to calm down! Leave that composure crap for a dog to eat!" He said before stomping out of the circle.   
  
"Gaahh! What's up with him!" Renzo shouted before running off after his sec's heir.   
  
Konekomaru took a few deep gulps of air, he knew what his duty required him to do. He was required to protect Bon, no matter what kind of trouble the larger monk put himself in. Konekomaru pushed up his shoulders and walked out of the circle to the shock of everyone who was watching.   
  
"What!? Are you serious!?" Izumo shouted in disbelief. "You're going to die out there! Stop!" She pleaded with them. She turned to Jazz, but the girl hadn't even been paying attention. Her eyes were closed and her hands were clenched, as if in prayer.   
  
"Please... please come back safe." She was whispering.   
  
Izumo looked up to see that Konekomaru was gone. "I... I can't allow myself to die here... I'm sorry."   
  
"What's the deal? Why don't you draw your sword? I thought this girl was important to you?" Amaimon said, staring at Rin with a look of disappointment.   
  
"Drop dead..!" Rin said, spitting out a mouth full of blood and blue flames. His demon's heart was going ballistic, right on the edge of a full awakening. Even Rin could feel it, underneath his rage. He was doing everything he could to keep it in check, but he didn't know how long that would last.   
  
Amaimon sighed heavily. "Oh well, it looks like this girl is useless to me now..." He said as if depressed before raising up one of his hands which sported long nailed fingers. "But since I have her, I might as well take one of her eyes." The color drained from Rin's face as the Earth King spoke. "My cousin loves the occult and asked me to get her some for her collection."   
  
"St... Stop it!" Rin roared, fire burning bright blue in his eyes, but he was shocked out of his rage as a firework shot past Amaimon's shoulder, getting the demon's attention.   
  
Everyone on the hill looked down to its base to see Bon, Konekomaru, and Renzo standing at the bottom of it. "We've been feeling a little left out! So we came to join the party!" Bon shouted, holding a firework and a lit match in his hand, Konekomaru holding another right next to him and Renzo standing with his k'rik, looking like he would piss himself for a third time at any moment.   
  
"Are... are they legally retarded?" Beelzebub asked as he started to laugh. "Run along little boys. Weak creatures like you have no business here. And I can't drink your blood. It would put me at risk of catching to stupid." He said, waving them off.   
  
"My students... I'm soooo disappointed in all of you." Danny said as he started to push himself up. "Bon, just leave! We can handle this!"   
  
"Get out of here you idiot!" Rin shouted. And when Rin is calling you an idiot, you know you're being dumb.   
  
"Okumura, while we distract them get the hell out of there as soon as you get the chance!" Bon shouted back.   
  
"Did he just openly announce their plan right in front of us?" Amaimon said, his eyes widening.   
  
"They are reaching unexplored levels of stupid and useless." Beelzebub said, sounding a little impressed. "Almost makes me want to not kill him, just to see was he says next."   
  
"Get out of here already!" Rin shouted, as he started to push himself up.   
  
But then Konekomaru's hand slipped and his anti-demon firework flew right at Amaimon and hit him in the face. "Oh shit! It slipped through my hands." Konekomaru shouted.   
  
"Konekomaru! You hit Moriyama!" Renzo shouted. But as the puff of smoke disappeared they all saw that Moriyama was completely okay. But that the firework had caused the point on the top of Amaimon's head to puff out making him look like... well... "He looks like broccoli!" Renzo began to laugh uncontrollable.   
  
"My students are idiots... I blame myself for not beating them more when they were younger." Danny said with a sigh.   
  
Beelzebub was also laughing his head off. "I am so glad we didn't just immediately kill these kids!" He laughed, showing the huge teeth as his mouth opened wide.   
  
Amaimon was less amused. Faster than the humans could blink he was in front of Renzo and kicked the kid hard, Not hard enough to kill him, because that would have made big brother cross, but hard enough to break his ribs and smash him into a nearby tree.   
  
"Shima!" Bon shouted but then stopped as the Demon King of Earth turned to him. But before Amaimon could do anything to him, Konekomaru stepped into the way, protecting his young master. "Konekomaru, what are you doing!"   
  
But before the small monk could answer Amaimon tapped on his elbow with one finger, the demonic force in the touch shattering the bone in three spots. Konekomaru screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching at his ruined arm.   
  
"Koneko..!" Bon started but he was cut off as Beelzebub's hand wrapped around his throat, crushing his windpipe.   
  
"Well well, that little boy pulled some serious shit to try to protect you, Mr. Funnyman." Beelzebub said squeezing the boy's neck. "Come on, say something funny."   
  
"Sh...shut the hell up... I don't give a shit... about you." Bon said while gasping for air. "The one I'm pissed at... is Okumura!" He shouted. "You've been acting like that from the very beginning... you always running off to save people without ever thinking of yourself... you don't have any special talents but then you do amazing things... you're an enigma... What are you!" Bon shouted with the last of his breath.   
  
Beelzebub applied a bit more pressure as he laughed. "Oh that was just great! Poor human at got a clue!" The Demon King laughed.   
  
"Stop it!" Rin shouted with all his might as he stood up and pulled his sword from the cloth around it. "Just stop!"   
  
Amaimon did stop and grinned as he watched Rin grab onto the hilt of his blade.   
  
"Rin! Don't! It's a trap!" Yukio shouted, as he pushed himself from the trees.   
  
"I'm sorry Yukio... I guess I just don't have it in me to lie to..." Rin started but then stopped and fell forward onto his face. Danny standing there behind him, having clubbed him on the back of the head hard enough to knock him out. Amaimon's face fell again.   
  
"Sorry Rin... but if you reveal yourself here... you're as good as dead." Danny mumbled as he looked up at the two demons. Even with his demonic powers, he wasn't going to be able to take them both down, but he could buy enough time for the others to escape. "And if one of us is going to die here..." The ring of white light appeared around Danny's waist, and his hair turned a snowy white as his eyes glowed green. "...it might as well be me. Jazz... I'm sorry." He then raised his voice. "If you were looking for a fight! You got one now!"   
  
"Do you honestly think you can handle both of us at once?" Beelzebub said, cocking an eyebrow as he dropped Bon to the ground, Bon was looking up at Danny with wide eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.   
  
"Yes..." Danny said.   
  
Then another voice came from between the two Demon Kings. "...I can!" They hardly had enough time to see the second Danny standing between them before he grabbed Shiemi out of Amaimon's arms with one hand before spinning around pushing an ecto-charged foot into Amaimon's face as well on a fist into Beelzemon's, launching both of them away like cannon balls in opposite directions.   
  
The clone carried Rin over and dropped him in front of Yukio before returning to being Danny's misty tail, Danny catching the short sword it had been holding. "Yukio, get them out of here. I'll handle these guys." Danny said turning away from the humans. He didn't want to see there faces. To see their fear.   
  
"Ri...right." Yukio said before pulling Rin up with one arm and Shiemi with another. With some encouragement, Bon followed, dragging along Renzo. Konekomaru scrambled behind them, still clutching his arm, but his fear was greater than the pain.   
  
"So, know that you two can't use human children as shields anymore." Danny said cracking his knuckles. "Let's do this for real."   
  


* * *

 

"Huh... that wasn't supposed to happen." Mephisto said with a bit of confusion as he pulled out a manga and started to flip through the pages. "Oh well, let’s watch this play out."


	37. Chapter 37

"Kirigakure Style Demon Sword Ability: Form of Serpent's Belly!" Shura shouted as she dragged her cut thumb over the side of her demon sword. The purple blade was inset with eight stones that looked like black eyes with yellow slits. But as Shura began to call upon her contract with the demon within the sword, the last two eyes began to glow yellow as the two demon hearts of water and insect woke up. The sword's form changed as the blade split in two, both coming out of the same hilt, one after another with a curvy gap between them.   
  
"Snake Lance!" She shouted against as she swept her sword through the air. A rift was created as the demon energy of the hearts mixed with the pressure differences caused in the air, creating an invisible blade of air pressure that flew from Shura's sword strike.   
  
The attack was a force to behold, cutting through trees like butter. But even so, it wasn't enough. The miasma around Behemoth, Amaimon's personal pet was too great, and its skin was harder than any steel. So the attack hardly more than annoyed the monstrous goblin.   
  
Shura attacked again and again, using her superiors speed to stay just out of reach of the greater earth demon. "Come on you brainless hill, just go down already!" Shura shouted, getting rather annoyed at the demon.   
  
She jumped out of the way of one of Behemoth's oversized claws and landing up in a tree, firing off more of her 'Snake Lance's as she went. 'Come on, I need to help the two idiots before they get themselves killed.' Shura thought angrily as she kept up her assault.   
  
But in her distracted state of mind, she was caught off guard when the demon smashed its tail against the ground, causing a small quake that caused Shura to lose her footing in the trees.   
  
Before the female ninja could regain her balance, the massive goblin rammed into her tree, causing it to fall. With her still airborne she couldn't dodge the incoming claw that was coming her way. But just as the goblin was about to hit her, its arm reared back and it gave a scream of pain.   
  
As Shura landed on the ground and rolled back into a standing position, she saw what had stopped the demon's attack. Danny's familiar, the hell hound Cujo, was biting down hard on Behemoth's tail and the earth demon was being temporarily overwhelmed by the pain. But even if Cujo was the size of a small Indian elephant, Behemoth was the size of a two story house. Behemoth swung around a massive arm and clubbed Cujo into the ground hard enough to crack the ground underneath him. The earth demon turned on the ghost dog, but Cujo passed into the ground and out of the demon's reach. Cujo came back out of the ground next to Shura, looking like he was ready for another go.   
  
"Thanks for the distraction." Shura said with a grin as she pulled out her hair band. "I'll take it from here." After separating a lock of her crimson hair, she pulled her sword, which had returned to its original form, through the small piece of her hair, cutting it off. "Kirigakure Style Demon Sword Ability." She said as the strands of hair fell between her fingers and was consumed by bright crimson flames before disappearing. The third and forth eye away from the hilt began to glow yellow as the hearts of fire and spirit fed their power through the blade. "Form of Serpent's Tail!" She shouted as the blade began to fall apart, each eye on a different piece, all of them connected by metal cables. She swung it around like a long whip and it burst into flames.   
  
"Snake Lash!" She shouted, bringing the whip around Behemoth's left arm, the flames quickly burned away the skin and into the demon's flesh. It scream just as Shura pulled the whip hard, causing the blade to cleanly cut through the arm, severing it from the demon's round body.   
  
"You still want more?" Shura asked as she aimed a lash at the demon’s eye, cutting a scar over it and burning the demon again.   
  
Behemoth wasn't the bravest of demons. It realized things were going down hill as was about to turn and run, but Cujo had gotten its tail again.   
  
"Sorry, it’s too late to run!" Shura said before she started chanting in a forgotten Japanese dialect. The joints of the whip started to float in a line as she took a trusting stance. "Snake Lung!" She shouted as she finished her chant. The blades just out and straight through Behemoth's forehead. Moments later, and the greater earth demon had been sent back to Gehenna. "Glad we got that taken care of." Shura said with a smug smile.   
  
Cujo walked up to her and barked before lowering his head down to her and looking up at her with his huge puppy dog eyes, waiting to be praised. Shura laughed before petting the dog on the head. "Fine, you did good. I can see why your master favors you so much." Cujo barked happily, accepting the praise. "But speaking of your master, we should probably help him out."   
  
Shura turned and started to run in the direction she had first saw Rin and Danny running off in, but stopped when she saw Yukio carrying Rin coming out of the trees followed by the other students. "What the hell!? I thought I told you all not the leave the barrier no matter what happened!? Don't you kids ever listen!?" Shura yelled at them.   
  
"Shut the hell up, will you?" Yukio growled, catching Shura by surprise. "Just take us back to the camp and let us through your barrier."   
  
"Fine, come on." Shura said but her eyes scanned the group. She had wondered how they had all gotten away from the demon kings, until she noticed that they hadn't all gotten away. "Where's Caspar?"   
  
The was a loud crashing sound from the direction the kids had been coming from. "He stayed behind." Yukio said, his voice completely lacking guilt.   
  
"He... he was a demon. All this time... he was a demon." Konekomaru stammered, clutching at an arm that was clearly broken.   
  
Shura felt disgusted at the fear in the boy's voice. She never could stand cowards. One of the reasons she had never gotten along with Yukio. Shura tried to ignore it as she lead the group back to camp and opened the barrier to let them in.   
  
At her instruction, Shura's snake familiar opened a small rip in the barrier and let the group through. No sooner were they through than Jazz got to work removing the parasite from inside of Shiemi's neck. "Where is Danny?" She demanded, but she saw three shapes flying out of the trees, followed by a midair struggle before two of them were blasted down with earth shaking speed after a flash of bright green light. "...Danny."   
  
"He choose to stay behind." Yukio said, turning away from the distressed older sister. His eyes instead locking on the Koumaken that was still held between Rin's fingers. He gritted his teeth and pulled the sword from the unconscious half demon's hands. "You gave him back the Koumaken? Why!?" Yukio demanded as he turned to face Shura.   
  
Bon's eyes widened as saw Rin's sword out of its cloth cover for the first time. "Kurakara..." He whispered in disbelief.   
  
"You know what you happen if he drew it out in front of everyone!" Yukio paused before adding. "You wanted him to do it, didn't you!? That's why you requested to hold this camp!"   
  
The students looked shocked at this accusation. "You knew those Demon Kings would attack us!?" Bon demanded before coughing violently from straining his injured voice box.   
  
"How... could you?" Renzo asked through his pain.   
  
"Don't act like I'm some kind of monster. Amaimon had been stalking the class for over a week, ever since the incident at Mephy Land. Maybe even longer." Shura said, glaring at the group. "We had to face them sooner or later, and if we hadn't gone out on this camping trip, than that could have happened in a residential area in the city." She said pointing at the already smashed up landscape, the sounds of the on going battle raging nearby. "The death toll would be in the thousands. So I arranged for us to act as live bait. I had planned to handle Amaimon myself. I didn't know that he would have company."   
  
"Did... did you know that Mr. Fenton was a demon?" Konekomaru asked.   
  
"And what of it?" Shura asked, glaring hard at the injured monk who backed down.   
  
"What do we do now?" Izumo asked, more than a little scared herself.   
  
"Simple, once we see an opening, the Scaredy Cat will take you all and run like hell out of here. Once you brats are out of the way, I can release the barrier and then I should have enough power to join the fight." Shura said, turning her back to the kids. "You better not die on me, Caspar." She mumbled under her breath as she watch a battle that was beyond what the other exorcists could even imagine.


	38. Chapter 38

"Damn you!" Beelzebub screamed as he rushed Danny along with Amaimon. Once coming at the ghost boy from either sides. The fight had already gone on for ten minutes, but other than some ripped clothing, no one seemed any worse for wear.   
  
As they got in closer Danny opened up his left hand and formed an ectobolt, over loading it so that it exploded in a flash of light that momentarily blinded the Demon Kings. After that he side stepped Beelzebub's punch before stabbing him through the arm with his kogitsune-maru, pulling the Insect King between him and Amaimon how ended up punching his older brother in the face with enough force to push him and Danny back through the air.   
  
Amaimon hardly had time to realize his mistake before he come under fire from Danny's gun which was being aimed at him from over Beelzebub's shoulder. Amaimon gave a hiss of rage and the silver bullets went into his skin, he had only barely managed to guard his eyes in time to stop one of the shots from taking an eyeball.   
  
After unloading all but one bullet in the clip, Danny pushed Beelzebub off of his sword, sending him flying into his brother causing them both to be knocked to the ground.   
  
"Watch it!" Amaimon shouted as they both tried to get back up.   
  
"You watch it!" Beelzebub shouted back.   
  
Danny charged the last bullet in his gun with as much power as he thought he could get away with before shooting it down at the two Demon Kings. Causing an explosion that left a fair sized crater in the ground beneath them.   
  
Amaimon and Beelzebub pulled themselves out of the crater, the damage dealt to their bodies quickly healing up as they glared up at Danny. "You know I can do this all day, but it would probably be quicker for you both if you just decided to go back to Gehenna on your own. Probably less painful too." Danny said smugly. He knew he had to keep their attention and give the others as much time as possible to escape. Plus as long as he was on defense with them coming after him, he could use his higher maneuverability in the air to his advantage. But the moment they target the others and force him to come to them, he would be sunk.   
  
"Fuck you!" Beelzebub shouted throwing his arms out to either side, purple magic circles appearing from his fingertips as the Chuchi of the surrounding area began to gather.   
  
"Oh, you shouldn't be using your magic. Big brother would be really cross if anything happens to his city." Amaimon said, looking over at Beelzebub.   
  
"Fuck that! I'm not losing to this brat just because I had to fight with a handycap!" Beelzebub shouted as the moths surrounded his hands. The Demon King withdrew his hands to reveal a massive single shot gun each of them. "Get a load of this!" He shouted and pulled each trigger. Two large bullets the size of soda bottles came out of the gun barrels.   
  
At first Danny was just confused as the bullets moved through the air with a speed that could only be described as snails pace, around ten miles an hour. But demonic energy poured out of the bullets and the ground just ten feet beneath them trembled and the nearby trees were uprooted and thrown aside as the bullets made their way through the air towards Danny.   
  
Danny quickly flew out of the way and watched as the bullets cleaved a path through the trees before flying off and blowing a hole through the clouds.   
  
"Not that I'm not impressed but... you aren't going to hit anything with that kind of bullet speed." Danny pointed out, cocking an eyebrow.   
  
"He's right you now. You're going to make Big Brother mad if you keep using those." Amaimon said innocently.   
  
"Just shut up and watch." Beelzebub said with a grin. Then he started firing more and more of the bullets. Danny didn't even know where they were coming from since the guns looked more like one shot cannons than your traditional weaponry.   
  
The air was full of dozens of the massive bullets. Danny tried to weave his way through them all but with the impact radius of the bullets being mostly invisible, Danny found it hard to judge. Being to close to one of the shots he was caught up in its demonic wind and thrown hard into the ground.   
  
"Yay! He's on the ground!" Amaimon cheered and he jumped up into the air, preparing to stomp on Danny. Danny tried to phase into the ground, but it was no good. Amaimon was the King of Earth, he wasn't about to let Danny had an easy escape.   
  
But before Amaimon hit Danny a nearly invisible wave of air caught him in the chest and through him away. "For Herod slew him, who was a good man..." Danny turned his head to see Shura standing in one of the nearby trees, her sword in its snake belly form as she chanted words from the Gospel of John. Saint John being the first to turn back Amaimon. "...both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism."   
  
"Damn woman!" Amaimon shrieked as he rushed the female exorcist. Shura pulled back her free hand and punched Amaimon square in the fact, knocking the Demon King away. Danny could just see a holy silver ring around her middle finger.   
  
"I'll handle this one. You take carry of the big brother!" Shura shouted before going after Amaimon. "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way. Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him!"   
  
Shura's chants would not be enough to reject the demon out of his host body, not at the level of possession her was currently in. But it would at least weaken him to the point where she could fight him one on one. Amaimon was quickly pushed back and the distance between them and Danny grew.   
  
"Good, the brat is finally out of the way." Beelzebub said with a smug smile. But then he needed to dodge a ectoblast from Danny. "Wow, calm down, kid. Now that Amaimon isn't here, I want to talk to you." Beelzebub said putting his guns up on his shoulders.   
  
"You sure do have a funny way of asking for a chat." Danny said not taking his own gun off of the Demon King, but at the same time, he didn't pull the trigger.   
  
"Amaimon and I were both sent by Samael, or I guess you call him Mephisto, in order to try to force our baby brother to show his flames." Beelzebub said looking for a reaction out of Danny. He didn't get one. "You aren't surprised?"   
  
"Not in the least." Danny said flatly. "I don't know if you've noticed, but your older brother is kind of untrustworthy."   
  
"Yeah, you got me there." Beelzebub laughed. "But I don't work for him, this was just a convenient way from me to get to you."   
  
"Me... what would a Demon King want with a half breed like me?" Danny said a little surprised. He assumed that Rin was the only motivation for the attacks.   
  
"My eldest brother, Lucifer. He has taken an interest in you." Beelzebub said with a grin. "He asked me to open up an invitation for you to join his organization, the Illuminati."   
  
"Well, I can't say that I'm interested." Danny said.   
  
"Oh come on, please reconsidered. With your talent, you could go far. And you would be free of Mephisto and the Knights of the True Cross. What point is there for a demon such as yourself to help the exorcists? Don't you want to be free?" Beelzebub said holding out his hand to Danny. "Join us and you will have whatever your heart desires. You can have fame and power, safety for yourself and your sister..." Beelzebub said, trying to tempt Danny over. "You can even had a reunion with your beloved parents."   
  
Danny was quiet, just long enough for Beelzebub to think that he had convinced the boy. But then Danny shot off a round that hit Beelzebub in the chest. The bullet plopped out, doing no damage at all, but it did anger the Insect King.   
  
"No thanks. Mephisto is bad enough, I'm not going to change to another one that's even higher on the food chain." Danny said charging up a short through his gun. "And besides, I'm not exactly on speaking terms with my folks. Try to understand, they are kind of racist."   
  
"Well I'm sorry to hear that." Beelzebub said as he hosted his guns again. "But I was told that if you don't come willing... Then I was to drag your ass back!" Beelzebub roared and he let lose a new valley of his bullets.   
  
Danny was prepared this time. He had noticed that there was a range before the bullets created their distortion field, and that if he stayed in that range he could still out maneuver Beelzebub while both dodging the bullets and gearing up for an assault of his own.   
  
Dodged the first volley of shots before capping Beelzebub in the knee, and then while he was trying to regain his footing, Danny flew up to him and tried for a slash, which Beelzebub narrowly dodged. "Stay still dammit!" Beelzebub shouted taking another shot which Danny dodged.   
  
Beelzebub's annoyed glare turned to outright horror as he saw the debris the latest shot was throwing around and noticed something metal in it. "NO!" He shouted as he rushed in its direction.   
  
Danny stopped, looking a bit confused and Beelzebub picked up and threw aside two large trees to reveal the remains of a motorcycle. "No... the Dullahan..." He cried as he looked at the ruins of his bike. "How could you... It was my ride." Beelzebub said, his voice shaking.   
  
Danny noticed his demonic aura growing even stronger. "Hey now, you were the one shooting those things everywhere. And how was I supposed to know you had parked your bike nearby? I didn't even know you had a bike."   
  
"You bastard..." Beelzebub growled, not listening to logic. He was too enraged. He turned to Danny, his yellow eyes had turned completely black. "I will kill you for what you have done to Dullahan. If Lucifer wants you...  **then my brother will just have to live with whatever pieces of you are left!** " Beelzebub's voice boomed as he leaned back. A small purple egg with black strips pushed itself from the Demon King’s chest. Every Chuchi in the forest flocked to the Demon King as his power exploded.   
  
Danny flew back a little, his eyes widening with shock at what he was seeing. A massive tail covered in hard plates that looked to be made of the same kind of thing as a bug’s exoskeleton pushed out of the back of the mass of bugs, quickly followed by two huge arms and legs each the size of a normal man, with long pointed fingers.   
  
Two black feathered wings, over twenty feet from tip to tip pushed out of the bugs before the moths finally dispersed, revealing Beelzebub's head covered in a dark purple helmet that was shaped like a beak. The biker was know just over fifteen feet tall and gave a ear splitting roar as he batted his new wings with enough force to push Danny back several feet out of surprise.   
  
"I don't believe it..." Danny said in shock.   
  
Beelzebub, the King of Insects, had draw out his demon heart.


	39. Chapter 39

The tide of the battle had turned so quickly. Where before Danny had been able to use his greater skills and maneuverability to keep the advantage, the difference of power had skyrocketed, and Danny was being destroyed.   
  
He tried to open fire on the fully awakened Demon King, but his bullets met nothing but air as the demon took to the air with enough speed to shake the air, pulling up a mouth of dirt to fill the space where the air had been ripped away.   
  
Danny didn't even have time to react before one of Beelzebub's massive feet hit in the chest, launching him earthwards, but before he could even get their Beelzebub arrived, delivering a knee to Danny's head,then grabbing him and throwing him like a baseball through several trees. "Die you brat!" Beelzebub screamed as a magic circle appeared in front of him and he pulled out a massive cannon, as big as he was.   
  
Danny was still shaking the stars out of his eyes when he saw the huge gun charging up, light being drawn into its barrel. "Oh holy..." Was as far as Danny managed to get before the thing fired, sending out a beam of what looked like purple flames straight for the boy. Danny jumped out of the way, but his right leg was caught in the blast. He gave a shout of pain as he tumbled through the air, thrown around like a rag doll by the wind kicked up by the shot.   
  
After landing on the ground, Danny tried to recovered his senses and get back up. But even as he started floating into the air, he was stomped back down onto the ground by Beelzebub. "Not such a big shout now, are you brat?" Beelzebub growled as he put more force on Danny.   
  
Danny gritted his teeth to stop himself from shouted as he passed into the ground underneath him. Momently later he flew out of the ground, aiming his sword for the purple egg in the center of Beelzebub's chest, his demon's heart.   
  
But Beelzebub was not taken by surprise, and he moved with lightning speed, getting out of the way and then grabbing onto Danny's sword arm with a hand that was as big as Danny's entire lower arm. "You don't get it. You don't stand a chance against a demon of my power." Beelzebub said with a laugh. Then he snapped Danny's arm, breaking the bone so that his sword slipped between his fingers and fell to the ground. Danny couldn't hold back the cries of pain as the demon tortured him. "I'm actually enjoying this more than I should." He said, bring Danny close up so that his breath was hot on Danny's face. "I'm going to kill you. But I'm going to take my sweet time doing it. I want you to suffer."   
  
"Dude... breath... mint." Danny said through short gasps of pain. Beelzebub laughed before throwing Danny as hard as he could. He was going to enjoy breaking him.

 

* * *

 

"Everyone, keep moving." Yukio said as he carried his brother along on his back, the others following behind him as they moved towards the emergency bunker, where they could be able to use the infinity key to get everyone out of there.   
  
Shiemi was being carried by Jazz, though Jazz looked as if she needed someone to carry her too.   
  
"Yukio..?" The instructor stopped as he realized his brother had woken up.   
  
"Rin!" Yukio said, his voice full of relief as he lowered his brother to the ground.   
  
"What happened? Where are those demons?" Rin asked confused. "Why does my head hurt so much?"   
  
"Danny knocked you out so you wouldn't do anything stupid." Yukio said harshly to his brother in a low voice, so that the others couldn't hear him. "What were you thinking, drawing the Koumaken like that?"   
  
"Danny's fighting them by himself!?" Rin shouted in panic. "I've got to help him..." He started, struggling to his feet, he legs a little wobbly.   
  
"No you won't! All Exwires are to retreat back to home base. Ms. Kirigakure and Mr. Fenton will take care of the demons." Yukio said, pulling the authority voice.   
  
"The hell, they need our help!" Rin shouted angrily. The others looking at him with shock. How could he still be so brave after seeing what those demon kings could do? Didn't he realize he was outmatched.   
  
"Ms. Kirigakure and Mr. Fenton are more than capable of handling themselves." Yukio said, just before the trees next to them exploded as something came flying through them and smashed into the ground.   
  
Danny lay in the broken soil, he was covered in scrapes and bruises. One of his pant legs had been burned off and the leg itself looked like it had been roasted over a large flame. His right arm was held at an odd angle, letting them all know it was broken.   
  
"Danny!" Jazz shouted, started to run towards her little brother, but she was blow backwards when Beelzebub landed between her and her brother, causing Shiemi to fall of the girl's back.   
  
"So, this is where you all were running off to." Beelzebub said with a sick grin as he stared at the other students. Each of them was overcome with fear. Bon who had been so thick headed and brave early staggered backwards. Renzo fell to the ground and started pushing himself away as best as he could, his eyes wide with terror, unable to look away from Beelzebub's true form. Konekomaru breaking down into tears and felt into a fetal position.   
  
Beelzebub took a step towards them and gun fire bounded off of his massive demonic aura, completely uneffective. Yukio had his gun pointed at the demon, his right arm shaking as he struggled to keep his aim true and keep shooting. The Koumaken gripped tightly in his other hand.   
  
"What the hell do you think your doing? A piece of shit like you challenging a greater being like me?" Beelzebub said with a snarl.   
  
Yukio was shaking. He couldn't take on a demon king. Not one that he hadn't been preparing for, and definitely not one that had released its demon heart. 'Dad... I can't do this. Please, help me daddy...' The childish thoughts pushed through his head as he kept shooting, the bullets having no effect at all. Beelzebub moving towards him. 'Daddy, help. Big brother!'   
  
"Get the fuck away from him!" Rin roared, running up to Beelzebub and taking him by surprise with a punch to the gut with enough force to actual knock the breath out of the demon king.   
  
All of the children stared in wide eyes astonishment as Rin punched the demon again and again, pushing him away from Yukio. But the momentum didn't last for long.   
  
Beelzebub grabbed Rin's fist and pulled him up into the air. "You should learn some respect for you big brother, you brat." He hissed before fringing Rin into the air and bringing him down hard, straight into the ground. Rin gasped in pain as he tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. "You worms should learn not to challenge your betters!"   
  
Yukio was staring in wide eyed horror as his brother was being pummeled. But the focus of his horror changed as the Koumaken began to shake violently in his hand. "No... Rin don't... if you do then the Vatican will kill you." He mumbled as he dropped his gun in order to use both hands to keep the sword in its sheath. "I promised father... I promised him." Yukio cried to himself, everything was going so wrong.   
  
A low chuckle filled the air and Beelzebub was hit in the back by a blast of green light. The demon king stumbled forward and way from Rin before turning around to see Danny pushing himself from ground, standing on his one good leg with his left hand held out from throwing that last blast. He continued to laugh as he stared at Beelzebub with faded eyes. "You're the one that's only a bug." Danny said through his laughter.   
  
Beelzebub's eyes widened and he bared his teeth in rage. "Don't call me that... Don't laugh at me!" He roared as he jumped over towards Danny, using his tail to bash the boy into the ground. He grabbed Danny by the throat and lifted him from the ground. "I'm not a bug! I'm not!"   
  
Danny had hit a nerve with the Demon King. The insect kingdom had always been one that had been poorly named. It was really the kingdom of winged beasts, but since over ninety nine percent of them were insects, it had been dubbed the insect kingdom. Something that Beelzebub had never been able to get away from.   
  
Danny just kept laughing. "All you are... is a glorified... yes man..." Danny said, coughing up some blood into Beelzebub's face.   
  
Beelzebub began to shake with rage. "Why... do you... still mock me!" He screamed before forcing Danny's head into the ground with enough force to create a massive crater. "Don't you get it! I'm better than you! I'm better than all of you!"   
  
"Danny..." Beelzebub stopped screaming as he heard the simple whisper. He looked over at the group of children and saw Izumo in the back, looking as pale as a ghost. A grin passed over the demon's lips.   
  
"You know, it's been a while since I last ate anything." He said licking his lips.   
  
A look of horror passed over Danny's face as Beelzebub let go of his hand and disappeared from sight, reappearing behind Izumo, lifting her up in one hand. "Fresh virgin tamer blood. Oh it's always the best." He said as Izumo shrieked. "Oh yes, scream more. It makes me all the hungrier." Beelzebub said as he lifted her into the air and dragged in long tongue over her body.   
  
"Get away from her!" Danny shouted trying to pull himself up but his body was so badly damaged. Pressure started to build inside of his chest as he stared at the laughing demon.   
  
"What's wrong? Why aren't you laughing any more? Don't you find this funny?" Beelzebub said as he open his mouth wide in laughter, exposing his fangs. "Well, I guess I really shouldn't be playing with my food anyways."   
  
Beelzebub made to bite down on the girl, and the pressure inside of Danny's chest exploded. Everyone was blinded by a sudden flash of bright white light and Beelzebub screamed with pain.   
  
Izumo was still held within Beelzebub's hand, but the hand itself wasn't connected to the body. As the stars disappeared from her eyes she looked up to see that Danny was holding her with his one good arm.   
  
"You alright?" She looked over at him as the disembodied hand fell away. Her hand was resting on his chest and light was coming through between her fingers, as she pulled her hand away she saw that in the center of his chest was an ice crystal that was giving off a soft white glow coming from deep within it. Danny's demon heart.   
  
Two small horns made of ice were poking out through Danny's hair and gave off the same kind of light glow as the ice in his chest. The green in his eyes had expanded to fill the entire eye with a red slit like pupil in the center of it. Ever single vain on his arms and neck were glowing green as his power was being pushed through his body.   
  
"Well Beelzebub, you showed me your heart." Danny said slowly as he lowered Izumo to the ground and turned his gaze to the Demon King who had one hand over the bloody stump that was his arm. "Now let me show you mine." Four long tails whipped around behind him, each was pure white and seemed to be made of flames though they gave off no heat and gave off more of a glow then the bright light of real fire.   
  
"Those flames... the white flames of Sheol." Beelzebub said with a level of disbelief.   
  
"Danny?" Rin said in shock. The levels of miasma were beyond anything he had felt before. The two demons standing before he were overloading his sixth sense, causing him to go into shock. His mind couldn't even comprehend it. "This is... a battle between Demon Kings."


	40. Chapter 40

Shura grinned playfully as she slowly wore away Amaimon's strength. She had gone through both the Gospel of John and the Tales of Noah, in order to both weaken him and stop him from regaining his strength from his contact with the earth beneath his feet. She had also changed her sword from serpent's belly form to serpent's fang.   
  
The blade was now a dark purple hand sickle with the hearts of earth and rot activated. The edge of the blade was harder than any steel and able to put small cuts in Amaimon's rock hard body, and with each cut more and more of the blade's demonic poisons seeped into the Demon King's flesh.   
  
"Have you had enough yet, oh Great King of Earth?" Shura teased the demon.   
  
"This is no fun. I wanted to play with my little brother. Not a hag like you." Amaimon said in a disinterested tone.   
  
Shura's eye twitched. "A hag, am I?" She said, more than a little upset about the comment. She dashed forward at a speed that Amaimon's drugged up mind couldn't follow, sliding past him, she put another cut in his knee, causing the Demon King to stumble. "Just give up and go back to Gehenna, Amaimon, and I might just let the hag comment slide."   
  
"Why would I do that? You just want me to stop so that you can rush to the Fenton boy's aid." Amaimon said turning to the female exorcist. "You can tell can't you? My brother has released his demon heart. I'm afraid that your friend doesn't stand much of a chance. Though if it makes you feel better, I don't think you would stand a chance either." Amaimon tilted his head. "Why do you want to throw your own life away to save a demon's? I don't get it. It's not a very exorcist like thing to do."   
  
"You're right... you don't get it." Shura said angrily before something in the air changed. Both her and Amaimon froze as they sensed a new power growing in distance, right next to Beelzebub.   
  
"How..." Shura heard Amaimon say as the demon stared off in wide eyed astonishment. "How is Mammon here?" Mammon? Pariah's name of origin. The King of Spirits. The sin of Greed. Amaimon frowned. "Looks like I'm not going to be able to have my fun today after all." He said in a disappointed voice. And so the King of Earth turned tail and ran, before he could lose his vessel.   
  
"Hey! Get your ass back here!" Shura shouted angrily. Without sending Amaimon back to Gehenna, everything was rendered pointless. "Damn." She grumbled before turning her head in the direction of the new power. "What the hell is going on here?"

 

* * *

 

Beelzebub couldn't look away from the boy in front of his eyes. They were cold, unfeeling, as if Beelzebub was beneath their notice. Beelzebub started to shake with anger again. "Don't you... look down on me!" He screamed as he formed a magic circle around the stump where his hand had been, growing a new one before resummoning his massive cannon.   
  
But Danny didn't move, and his expression remained unchanged as the Lord of the Skies charged up his giant cannon. "Die!" Beelzebub shouted as the cannon fired.   
  
Izumo screamed, covering her eyes, but Danny's flaming tails wrapped around the two of them, forming a shell around them. The purple laser hit them died on, but rather than being incinerated, the blast itself split around them, cutting a path in the ground. The tails unwound to show that both Danny and Izumo were untouched.   
  
"Dammit!" Beelzebub shouted switching off to his dual hand guns. He fired a valley at the ghost boy, but the tails flew forward, deflecting all of the bullets and sending them harmlessly up into the air. Beelzebub took a step back as Danny cocked a half smile. "How... why do you have that power?"   
  
"Oh wow." Rin said as he pushed himself from the ground he had been stomped into. "So cool."   
  
"This isn't good." Jazz said surprising Rin.   
  
"What are you talking about? Danny's owning that guy." Rin said confused.   
  
Jazz shook her head. "There is a good reason why Danny hadn't been using this power from the beginning." Rin blinked and looked back at his friend and saw blood leaking out of one of his eyes and his already injured arm twitching as the skin was being pulled apart.   
  
Beelzebub saw this too and started to laugh. "You might have Mammon's power, but it doesn't look like your body can handle it as well as his could!" The Demon King gloated. "How long can you stay standing at this rate? Five minutes?"   
  
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Danny said calmly as he bent his knees slightly. "Lucky for me... this will only take one."   
  
Beelzebub was shocked as Danny rushed forward, quickly closing the distance between them before shooting two of his fiery tails at the Demon King, as if to impale him. Beelzebub jumped out of the way and the tails smashed into the ground, pushing aside the soil like knives through warm butter before whipping up and hitting Beelzebub in the chest.   
  
The Demon King let out a shocked gasp as it felt like someone had dropped a mountain on his stomach before being knocked up hundreds of feet into the air.   
  
Beelzebub did his best to recover in mid air, beating his wings and turning the world right side up. He looked the direction he came from in order to prepare for whatever follow up attack came but he was hit hard from behind sending him earthwards and straight into the ground.   
  
"No... this can't be happening... It can't." Beelzebub mumbled as he tried to pushed himself onto all fours. "I have to... put my heart away... before its..." Then he gave a gasp of pain as Danny dropped from the sky, kicking him in the back and reintroducing him to the dirt.   
  
Before Beelzebub could even think about recovering two of the four tails were driven into his shoulders before ripping off his wings. A third tail wrapped itself around his neck pulling him up into a kneeling position.   
  
Beelzebub was trembling. "This can't happen... this can't happen..." He kept saying to himself. Though his vision was blurred he could still see Mephisto sitting off in the distance, watching from his arm chair. "Brother... help me!"   
  
Mephisto smiled raised up one hand with his thumb pointed sideways, before turning it downwards. Pure despair pushed itself into Beelzebub's heart as he realized he was going to die. Mephisto had always known that he was going to die. He had called him in order for him to be killed. "Father... forgive me for being such a tool."   
  
Those were to be the Demon King's last words, and the final tail drove itself through his back and out his chest, right through the purple egg that was his demon heart. Beelzebub's fell to the ground, completely dead.   
  
Danny's tails let go of the Demon King, flicking through the air so that the blood flew off of them. Danny took a deep breath and the crystal in his chest began to sink back into his body. His tails began to shrink, turning back from white fire into a silver mist before combining back into one. The horns retracted back into his head and his eyes returned to normal as his vanes stopped glowing.   
  
Then he fell to the ground, gasping in pain. He held his left eye closed as it had started bleeding out, a steady stream was coming from the corn of his mouth, and his already injured leg and arm were both in even worse shape as the skin and muscle had been torn to pieces by the strain of the white flames. His head was spinning from blood lose when he heard two unfamiliar voices.   
  
"Well damn, the kid managed to pull it off." One said in a light hearted tone.   
  
"Just take the filthy demon and let’s get going." The other said angrily.   
  
"What every you said." The first said. Danny felt himself being lifted up off the ground and put over someone's shoulder.   
  
The last thing he remembered before falling unconscious was the smell. 'Man... this guy stinks...'


	41. Chapter 41

"Hey! Is everyone okay!" Shura shouted as she ran up to the group of students that had only just reached the door that would be unlocked to lead back to the Japanese Branch HQ.   
  
Yukio turned to her with a glare on his face. "Where the hell have you been!?" He shouted.   
  
"Wha..? I was fighting Amaimon! Where the hell have you been? Why aren't you all through the gate yet?" She demanded looking over the group. "Have you seen Caspar? Because Amaimon ran off after we sensed a third Demon King."   
  
"There was no third Demon King." Shura's eyebrow twitched as she recognized the voice behind her. That carefree voice that make her seem tense by comparison. "It's been a while Ms. Kirigakure. You are looking lovely as ever."   
  
The whole group turned to see two men standing in front of them. The one that had been talking was medium height and rather rough around the edges. He wore a dirty exorcist's jacket over an even dirtier white t-shirt and brown shorts and a safari hat on top of his mat of messy black hair covered his eyes. It looked as if it had been a few days since he had last shaved. All and all, he had a shaggy look to him, making his smile go from friendly to off putting.   
  
But Jazz hardly took in any of that. She only had eyes for what was thrown over the man's shoulder. "Danny!" The girl shouted running towards them to get to her brother, but the other man stood in her way. "What are you doing!? That's my little brother!"   
  
"This demon is evidence of Mephisto Pheles's crimes. So I would ask you to stand back." The man said. He was the complete opposite of the first man. He was tall, with paler skin and a very distinct and well shaven chin. His long golden blond hair that reached halfway down his back. He was dressed in white with a white cape that had golden feather designs on the inside of it, and a massive sword as his side. But he seemed very unfriendly at the moment.   
  
"Come on you ass, there is no need to treat them like that!" Shura said angrily. "You haven't changed at all. You look like a saint but you're nothing but heartless scum."   
  
"What's going on!? Who are these people!?" Izumo asked, she couldn't help but to be afraid for Danny as he was being treated like nothing more than a common demon.   
  
"They are Arthur A. Angel and Lewin Light, also known as Lightning. Both Senor First Class Exorcists and Arc Knights." Shura said angrily.   
  
The blond man, Arthur A. Angel, smiled. "Actually I was recently appointed to be the new Paladin. Which makes me your boss, Shura." Angel said in a voice like a ten year old child, boasting about his new toy or that the teacher likes him best.   
  
Shura giving the man a deadly glare. "He... he's the Paladin?" Rin said, pissed off that someone like that took the place of Shiro. The rest of the students were shocked at their sudden appearance.   
  
"But she is right Angel, there's no reason to be rude to the young lady." Lightning said with a smile as he turned to Jazz. "And there is no need for you to worry. I've already taken a look at his injures. With his speed up healing abilities, your brother will be fine. We just need to take him with us to answer some of our questions." The man said, infinitely more friendly than his companion.   
  
"So may I ask why my two least favorite people in the world have decided to come all the way here?" Shura said, tapping her sword on her shoulder.   
  
"Two Demon Kings attacked at the same time. Who did you think they would send?" Angel said with his cocky grin. "Though I have a question for you. You were sent here to spy on Mephisto Pheles and report any of his misconduct. So tell me, why haven't you reported to the Vatican about this demon?" He said pointing towards Danny.   
  
"Jeez, don't act like I was the only spy you had here." Shura said in a bored tone. "And besides, I was told to investigate anything that might have had to do with the old Paladin. The kid has only been in Japan for a few weeks. And I already checked him out. He isn't a threat to anyone. He's just a kid." Rin froze up at the mention of Shiro being under investigation, did that mean that they were about to find out who he was?   
  
"That will be for the jury to decide." Angel said turning to go towards the door, pulling out a special key. "As soon as this demon wakes up, their will be a hearing in order to decide what to do with him and to decide on a fitting punishment for Mephisto. Your attendance is too be required, Shura. As for these Exwires. They are to write a full testimony of what they saw today, to be documented in cause a followup trial is required."   
  
Lightning started to follow Angel towards the door. "Wait! You can't just take him!" Rin shouted, he was going to go to stop them but Shura's hand stopped him.   
  
"This isn't something you should get involved in." Shura said with a sad look in her eye. "It will only make things worse for Caspar if you do. Just sit tight." Shura let go of Rin and walked through the door after the others, the door snapping closed behind them as she walked through.   
  
"Why..." Bon said angrily. Rin thought he was angry that Danny was being treated like that even though he had risked his life to save them, but Bon's next words cut through Rin like a knife. "Why is that demon at the academy!"   
  
He looked around at the faces of his classmates to see that most of them seemed to be having some of the same thoughts. "Danny always said that would happen." Jazz mumbled only loud enough for Rin to hear her. "I guess I just didn't want to believe it." She looked as hurt by the comment as Rin felt.   
  
"Come on everyone. We need to get to the infirmary so that everyone's injures can be taken care of." Yukio said as he used his own key to open a door back to the school nurse's office. Yukio didn't look up at anyone. And the professionalism didn't leave his voice. But Rin knew him better. He could tell that Yukio was shaken too.   
  
Danny Fenton was discovered. He had revealed himself in order to stop Rin for doing so. His life was at risk, and it was because of Rin. 'No... not again.' Rin thought weakly as he followed the others through the door. Life, was so unfair.

 

* * *

 

The tension was high around the beds in the medical room as Yukio checked on everyone's injures. Jazz checked Izumo's but then stopped, not offering her help to the three boys from Kyoto. After the short check up Bon glared his usual look over at Jazz.   
  
"I think we deserve an explanation." He demanded.   
  
Jazz glared right back at him, a sight that made the boy's twitched back. Not only because they were so rare, but because Danny's demon statues brought Jazz's blood into question. "You don't 'deserve' anything. And if you want answers, then you will have to ask Danny himself." Jazz snapped.   
  
"Like hell! We were in the crossfire back there! We have a right to know!" Bon shouted.   
  
"Says who? What did Buddha come down to you at tell you that you for some reason had the right to know these things? You were caught in the crossfire because you were idiots and left the barrier when Ms. Kirigakure told you not to! So if you got hurt, that is your own fault, not Danny's! And besides, what makes you think we know why the Demon Kings were there!? I'm just as surprised as you are!" Jazz snapped back, uncharacteristically angry.   
  
"Then why weren’t we told that Fenton was a demon!? How do we know you're not a demon!?" Bon shouted getting up and moving towards Jazz.   
  
"Back off!" Rin shouted stepping between Jazz and Bon, he remembered the times Bon assaulted Izumo when he was only a little angry. Rin was not going to stand by and watch him assault Jazz. Not after everything that had happened. "What the hell is all of your problems!? Danny saved our asses and you treat him like a monster!"   
  
"'What's the problem!?' Are you stupid!? Don't you know anything!?" Bon shouted. "Didn't you see those flames!?"   
  
Rin was confused. "What's the big deal? They're just flames, its not like they were blue." Rin said, a bit quieter in his confusion.   
  
"You really don't know anything." Bon said glaring at the still secret half demon. "Then let me explain it to you. Satan had many children among the demons but none of them inherited his flames, or survived inheriting them anyways. But his first three children all got a small piece of his fire. Their flames were different colors and all had a different part of Satan's power. And they were gold, black and white."   
  
Rin blinked as he looked to Yukio for confirmation. "The eldest, Lucifer, gained the golden flames. It’s said that they can burn anything in existence, leaving no trace of the victim behind, not even the ashes." Yukio said no looking up. "The second son, Samael, had black flames. They couldn't burn anything within the physical world, but they could burn anything else; souls, ideas, memories, even time itself. And the third son, Mammon, had white flames, these flames could not burn anything, but they acted like a physical presence, able to touch things. Each one was an aspect, a piece of Satan's blue flames."   
  
"You... you guys don't honestly think that Danny is the son of Satan?" Rin said, completely aware of the irony. It hurt... it hurt so much. If they had known that Rin was really the son of Satan, they would be even more afraid of him.   
  
"He might not be his son, but he is definitely related to him somehow." Bon said angrily. "There are only a few demons who have those kinds of flames, and they are all descendents of Satan."   
  
Jazz stood up and made for the door only stopping to look at Rin. "Rin, let’s go back to the dorm." She said, knowing that Rin shouldn't be left alone with these people who he thought were his friends.   
  
"I'm going too. All this is just stupid." Izumo said walking passed the boys and Shiemi who all looked shocked. But she didn't want to look at them. Those fair weather friends. People like them made her sick. She waited for the door to close as Rin and Jazz used the key to their dorm before taking out a key of her own.   
  
She couldn't help but to think back to what had happened. Danny hadn't tried to hurt them, or catch them in the battle. He was trying to help them. He had called on the power of those flames, a move that he knew was risky, in order to save her. The idea that he was somehow a monster was just stupid. But that was all she had ever expected from the others in the cram school. "You're all idiots and cowards." She said just loud enough to be heard by them as she shut the door behind her.

 

* * *

 

Danny's head was pounding. Actually, his whole body had a steady pulse of pain as he tried to push himself up onto all fours. He looked around to see that he was in a small cell with wooden bars, covered in magic seals.   
  
"I see you're awake." Shura said sitting on a chair across from the boy. "You must've had a hell of a fight. You look like shit."   
  
"Where..?" It was all Danny could manage. The pain in his chest made him quickly realize there was something wrong with his lungs. Best not to breath to hard until his demonic healing kicked in.   
  
"Vatican headquarters holding cell. They are gathering up people to witness the trial of Mephisto. They are using you as evidence of wrongdoing." Shura said simply. "Though since Mephisto came of his own free will I'm guessing that they don't have a ice cube's chance in hell of convicting him. Since you haven't done anything wrong and you will probably be released under watch. Or at least, that's what I hope will happen." Danny nodded to show that he was listening.   
  
Shura gave a sigh of relief that the boy was alive, though she had no idea if that would last. Angel was an ass and openly hated all demons, save for his own sword. So having him around was a big turd in the punch bowl. But Angel was an idiot, and content to just let the higher ups decide what he had for breakfast.   
  
The thing that Shura was more concerned about was Lightning. If Angel was a hand puppet, then Lightning was the guy with his hand up the puppet's ass, controlling him with nothing more than friendly suggestions and points in the right direction. He was much harder to predict and was definitely someone that would try to exploit Danny's power. Not to mention he was considered a master of arts of interrogation and was a master detective. He could easily find out about Rin if he started digging, which could lead into even more trouble.   
  
In truth, he would either be the death of the boys, or a powerful ally. The only question was, which will he choose.


	42. Chapter 42

The pain, he hadn't felt so much pain in so long. It felt as if he body was constantly ripping itself apart with each slow and heavy thud of his still beating heart, the only reason he was still sure he was alive.   
  
Danny's eyes started to flicker open and he found that he was in a tube filled with a cool, clear liquid that was seeping into the cracks that covered his skin. He tried to move, but it only sent new waves of pain through his body. What had happened? Where was he? He couldn't even see straight, everything outside of his tank was just a blur.   
  
"Great One, you're awake." A deep, rough voice said, one that sounded as if it thought the boy would have never woken up. Danny could only vaguely see the outline of a large demon with white fur.   
  
"Frostbite..?" Danny said weakly, recognizing the voice and way of speaking. But the in closed his eyes as pain filled his lungs.   
  
"Great One, I know it hurts, but you must breath in the healing waters." Frostbite instructed. It did hurt, but Danny did as he was told, taking in large breaths of the liquid he was being suspended in. "Great One, what is the last thing you remember?"   
  
"Last... last I remember?" Danny said for a second he was drawing nothing but blanks, but then it started coming back to him. "You were... you were teaching me to draw my Heart out of Gehenna."   
  
"That's right... and you succeeded." Frostbite said, but he didn't sound very happy about it. "I am sorry Great One. If I had known that this would happen, I would have never suggested you undergo the training."   
  
Danny frowned. "What happened?" He asked, not remembering a thing.   
  
"There was something inside of your ice core that we had not been expecting." Frostbite said a mixture of worry and awe in his voice. "One of the three sacred flames, the white flames of Sheol."   
  
"Flames..." Danny said he was starting to remember, remember the blazing white fire that spread across his skin, forming behind him and powerful tails, ripping him apart from the inside out.   
  
"The flames of Sheol were Pariah's trump card. Even he would not have used their power unless forced to because of the damage it would inflict upon his body." Frostbite explained. "And I'm afraid that your body is not nearly as durable as his was."   
  
"But... how... why do I have..." Danny struggled to form the words. Why did he have Pariah's power?   
  
"Those flames are the symbol of our world. I can only assume It must have been dormant inside of you ever since you were bathed in our world's energy, and became a half demon. I believe it was sealed away within the ice produced by your demon heart. But when you draw your demon heart to the surface, that power was unleashed." Frostbite said, his voice was full of regret. "This time we managed to reseal your heart before it killed you, but you must never use this power ever again. If you do... might... kill..." His words became muffled as Danny felt pins and needles moving along his arms and legs, a sense that he was breaking the suffers of a cold pool washed over him, and the scene vanished.

 

* * *

 

Danny opened his eyes to find that he was laying in a bed, staring up at the ceiling tiles on the roof above his head. Just like in the dream, it took a little for him to remember how he had to there.   
  
"Oh, right. I did it again, didn't I." He said, more to himself than anyone else. He slowly realized that he could only see out of his left eye. His left hand went over across his body to his left eye to find that it was covered with a bandage.   
  
"You shouldn't be messing with that." A girl's voice said. Danny turned his head to see Izumo sitting by his bedside in one of the hospital's plastic chairs.   
  
"Izumo, how long have you been here?" Danny asked. The tamer girl had not been the person he had expected to see when he had first woke up.   
  
"Hey, don't get the wrong idea. I'm just watching you for your sister and the idiot Okumura while they get some rest." Izumo said, flushing a bit.   
  
"Oh... thank you." Danny said looking back towards the ceiling. "I imagine it wasn't easy to convince them to leave." Danny gave a heavy sigh. "I can't believe I made her worry again. What a lousy brother I am." Izumo looked a bit surprised to heard Danny saying such things. "I've always been a burden for her, making her worry as I throw myself in harms way again and again. I'm so selfish."   
  
"Are you stupid?" Izumo said in a voice of complete disbelief. "You have to be the least self aware person I have ever seen."   
  
"Huh?" Danny said a little taken aback by the outbreak.   
  
"You 'throw yourself in harm's way' in order to save m... our lives. And now you're moping about how 'you're' a burden and selfish." Izumo said, sounding a bit angry about it. "I don't get you. Almost everyone I have ever met is just a 'burden' and 'selfish' but pretend like they are dependable. But you are the opposite. You constantly act selflessly and then you go and say who you aren't good enough to be in the group. You're more thick headed than even those three stooges."   
  
Danny blinked a few times blushing a little in embarrassment. "I'm not sure if I should feel insulted or not." He said giving a weak chuckle. "You know Izumo, you can be really nice when you want to be."   
  
The girl flushed again. "Wh...who said you could address me by my first name!?" She demanded as Danny laughed. "Stop laughing!" She said getting up and making to leave. She walked over to the door but then stopped, turned around and walked back to Danny. She pulled a bottle out of her pocket and handed it to the ghost boy. "Mike and Uke said that this might help." She mumbled, not making eye contact with the boy. "And thank you... for saving me."   
  
Before Danny could replay she turned on her heels and walked off. He looked down at the bottle in his hand. Mike and Uke were the names of Izumo's familiars. Danny wondered what spirit foxes would suggest as a form of medicine.   
  
He took the top off and lifted the bottle up to his nose and took a sniff. "Saki?" He mumbled as he vaguely recognized the scent of rice wine. It was the kind of thing he would have expected Shura to get him, Izumo probably hadn't known what was in it. Danny laughed a bit and put the bottle down on his bedside table.   
  
He leaned back again, baring his head in the pillows. He still needed so rest if he was going to make be getting out of the hospital sooner rather than later. So he closed his eyes, and let sleep take him.

 

* * *

 

Danny was on all fours in the middle of a large courtroom, hundreds of figures surrounding him, watching and judging him from inside shadows that hide their faces. He was holding back a scream from the pain coming from his right leg.   
  
"The hell are you doing! He's already injured you asshole!" Danny could hear Shura's enraged shouts. Danny turned his head to see the figure of Arthur A. Angel standing over him, his sword buried in Danny's leg.   
  
"I'm merely insuring that he behaves." Angel said, not an ounce of misgivings in his voice as he practically tortured an already crippled child. "Besides, this demon will heal."   
  
"You psychotic..!" Shura growled through gritted teeth as she reached towards her chest to pull out her own demon sword, only to be stopped as Mephisto appeared behind her.   
  
"Now now, we are all allies here." Mephisto said, a killer grin spread across his face as he looked at Angel.   
  
"Mephisto Pheles, we finally have proof of your treachery." Angel said giving the Demon King a look, as if he believed himself superior to Mephisto. "You've finally slipped up and shown your tail."   
  
Mephisto blinked. "Shown my tail? I have done no such thing. How rude of you, to accuse a gentledemon like myself of doing such a thing." Mephisto said, fanning being insulted, though the Demon King was clearly having fun.   
  
"Order!" Someone who looked like they were a judge from the dark ages, with the powdered wigs, shouted, pound his malate down hard enough to give Danny a headache along with his more serious injures. "Now that the accused has arrived, we may begin the proceedings!"   
  
"Huh? Accused? Does he mean me?" Mephisto asked Lightning, the demon grinned even wider as the exorcist nodded. "Oh, how exciting!" He said with glee as he walked up to the stand.   
  
"I would like the court to look at these images of what just happened at the True Cross Academy Campus, forest area!" The judge pulled up some images of Danny's fight with Beelzebub, including one of him impaling the Demon King against the ground with his white fire-like tails, ripping the wings out of its back. "Sir Pheles, is the demon that is here before us, the same one as from in these images?" The judge said, spitting the word demon.   
  
"Impartial judge my..." Danny mumbled at the obvious racism, earning him another twist of Angel's sword.   
  
"That is correct." Mephisto said, seeming to be completely unconcerned.   
  
"And is he or is he not a byproduct of the Fentons taboo experiments?" The judge asked. Danny couldn't help but to wonder why the 'judge' was the one asking the questions. What kind of arcane court system were they using? Where was his lawyer?   
  
"In a way, yes." Mephisto admitted with a shrug.   
  
"So you admit to conspiring with the Fentons in order to open a gateway to Sheol." Angel said.   
  
"I admit no such thing. Yes the knowledge they used to create their device did originate from me. But if I recall I gave the Vatican that information in order to let them banished unruly ghosts from this world. The knowledge itself was not forbidden, only the way that the Fentons used it. And you can hardly blame me for that." Mephisto said with a smile. "And as for this boy, he is little more than an accident. Something that no one could have foreseen happening. A human boy, who was transformed into a powerful half demon, the Phantom."   
  
Gasps and murmurs filled the spectators. "The Phantom is nothing more than a myth." The judge said, though a drop of sweat slid down the side of his neck.   
  
"A myth you say?" Mephisto said with a grin. "Those flames should prove who he is. The usurper of Greed's throne, the one who resealed my brother, Mammon."   
  
"And why exactly are you harboring such a demon, without our knowledge?" Angel growled.   
  
"Why, as a weapon for the order, of course." Mephisto said with a grin and a bow as whispers filled the room again. Mephisto took advantage of the judge's momentary shock to push forward. "I ask everyone here! Having seen his power in action! Will you not take this gamble with me! Whether the boy will become a Demon King of Gehenna, or will he become a savior of Assiah!"   
  
"Do not let yourself be fooled by this charlatan!" Angel shouted over the murmuring voices. "Everyone, don't tell me you have forgotten his lineage! His kind specialize in smooth talking people! He conspired with the Fentons in order to create this demon! You can not let yourselves be blind to this fact! He must have been intending to deceive the Order so that he might overthrow them from within. If you believe his words, you'll have fallen for his trick!"   
  
Voices became louder and louder, most of them speaking against Mephisto Pheles, and in favor of putting Danny to death.   
  
"So is that it!?" Danny shouted, using what was left of his strength. "You're going to kill me now!? What have I done to deceive that!?" He looked up at them, tears coming to his eyes. "You're all just a bunch of self-righteous murders!" But then Danny was silenced again by Angel bringing a hard fist across the back of his head, causing blood to drip down the side of his face. The crowd went silent as they waited this.   
  
"Angel, that might have been going too far." Lightning said calmly. "Even if he is now a demon, it is of no fault of his own, and he was born and raised a human. He's a half demon, and we don't simply kill people for having demon blood in them." Lightning said, trying to talk down his friend who looked ready to chop off Danny's head and be done with it. "Half demons have always been born here in Assiah, and have provided knowledge and much needed manpower to our order. Who says that this boy is any different, regardless of any relation with Sir Pheles?" The crowd seemed to start to lean towards this ideology. "But I have a question that has yet to be answered. Why exactly were those Demon Kings attacking him and the other children and how did they get through the barrier around True Cross Academy?" He asked.   
  
Danny glanced up at Mephisto, it had been him that had let the demons through, and it had been him who had told them to attack in order to make Rin reveal himself in front of the others. But if Danny let that get out, Rin would be in trouble. So as much as he hated it, he had to cover Mephisto's ass.   
  
"Beelzebub said that he had been sent by Lucifer!" Danny shouted in order to get everyone's attention. "He said he was told to try to recruit me for some organization, the Illuminati."   
  
Angel stiffened a little at those words. Shura was shocked as well, though Mephisto broke into a wide smile. Lightning bent down in front of Danny staring at him from behind his thickly matted hair. "And just like that. You've become a lot more valuable to us." He said with a knowing smile and shouted began to ring through the room again.


	43. Chapter 43

Danny stood in front of a mirror in the closet in his hospital room. A few more scars had been added to his already impressive collection of them, but his arm and leg had healed properly and he would be able to use them at one hundred percent soon enough. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of his eyes.  
  
His left eye had been damaged beyond his natural ability to heal and had been replaced by a fake on, though almost no one would notice unless they looked very closely that the two eyes were not the exact same shade of blue.  
  
Danny didn't regret the loss of his eye. It seemed like a small price to pay for rescuing Izumo from Beelzebub. And besides, you could function with one eye a lot easier than with just one leg, or one arm. Calling out his demon heart like that, when his body was already heavily injured, could have just as easily cost him his life as just losing him one eye. Though the face that he had lost his eye was rather ironic. Pariah also lost his eye to the white flames. Another thing that linked Danny to the King of Spirits, as if there wasn't too much of that already.  
  
But that was not what Danny was looking at. He was too busy looked at what was around his neck. A thin gray metal ring was wrapped around the boy's neck, it wasn't so large that it would draw a lot of notice, but it was still fairly obvious. The ring was covered in a small script, so that the ring formed a magic circle around Danny's neck, binding him to follow its instructions or suffer waves of pain as the rin would contract and strangle Danny.  
  
The circle was designed to keep him from leaving the academy grounds unless he was in the company of an Archknight class exorcist, such as Shura or Lightning. Even then, he would have to remain within a few hundred feet of them at all times.  
  
"All the thing needs is a dog tag and a leash." Danny said miserably, as he raised on hand to the ring, only for his hand to be shocked.  
  
"Usually they put the rings around the demon's tail, but I suppose that since a spectral tail like yours is just mist, they had to put it somewhere else." Mephisto said as he appeared in the room behind Danny in a puff of pink smoke. "Hello there!" The demon King said with a huge grin.  
  
"Oh, it’s you." Danny said, his voice full of venom. "What do you want?"  
  
"Oh come now Danny, I'm your legal guardian. I have to be here to check you out of the hospital." Mephisto said with a grin. "You know, I could fix that eye of yours for you? It would be fairly simple magic for someone like me."  
  
"No thanks, I'm going to save the favor you now owe me for something a bit more important than my twenty twenty vision." Danny said turning and glaring at the Demon King, his one good eye turning a dark green.  
  
"Hm? Since when do I owe you a favor?" Mephisto asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Since I didn't rat you out for sending Amaimon and Beelzebub after us. Beelzebub might have been working for Lucifer, but you are the one that asked him to come here and let him in, all so that you could force Rin to expose himself." Danny said angrily.  
  
"Uh huh, but why does that mean I owe you a favor? After all, you didn't lie to protect me, you lied to protect Rin." Mephisto said with a wicked grin. "You can't expose me without exposing your friend. And as long as Rin's life belongs to me, you will do whatever I want you to."  
  
Danny locked eyes with the King of Time, who had to admit that the two different colored eyes were a good effect. "Your magic words. They have a pattern of breathing to them." Danny said, taking the Demon by surprise. "One the first word you exhale, then you inhale on the second word. When you breath in you take in the entropy in the air around you and store it in your stomach, stopping time. Then you do whatever it is you want before breathing out, thereby letting time resume. That's how you can stop time without the need for a item focal point that would act as a weak point."  
  
Mephisto began to laugh. "Very good! It's been nearly five hundred years since the last person figured out my secret!" Mephisto said, clapping his hands. "But do you honestly think that simply knowing how it works means that you can overcome it? You still lack the Right to overcome my powers."  
  
"Maybe, but I'm sure there are others in the Vatican that would be able to use that information quite well." Danny said grinning back. Mephisto's smile slid of his face. "If you reveal Rin's secrets, I reveal yours."  
  
"So you are blackmailing me then? How very demon like of you." Mephisto said, sounding less than pleased. "But if that is how you wish it to be, then fine. I will not pursue exposing Rin any further, but with or without me, the truth will get out. It is only a matter of time."  
  
But then Mephisto snapped his fingers, causing his pink umbrella to appear. "Now, how about we get you checked out of this hospital? After all, you have a class to get back to."  
  
Mephisto said, turning to the door and walking out, leaving Danny to follow him.

 

* * *

 

Danny stood outside of classroom 2-F taking a short breath before making the plunge. He reached out and slowly opened the door.  
  
Walking into the room he saw that there was hardly anyone in there. The three boys from Kyoto were absent. But everyone else was there and seemed to be surprised to see him.  
  
"Danny! When you get out of the hospital!?" Rin asked in a rather loud and cheerful voice.  
  
"Just a few hours ago. But Mephisto still wants me to teach. Guy's a really demon, I'll tell you." Danny said giving a yawn and scratching his head. "Where are the three stooges?"  
  
"They're still in the hospital, though I heard they will be out tomorrow." Izumo said, looking away and trying to act like she didn't care that Danny was back, but she was smiling a little.  
  
"Lucky ducks." Danny said as he walked over to his sister, Cujo sitting right beside her, tongue hanging loose as he waited for praise from his master. Worrying that someone might try to target Jazz to get at him, Danny had left the dog to guard his sister, just in case. "Hey boy, thanks for keeping an eye on things for me." Danny said, pulling out a milk bone treat and handing it to the dog, who barked and wagged his tail.  
  
"Danny, are you sure you are alright?" Jazz asked, looking up at her little brother.  
  
Danny grinned and did a short stretch, rolling his shoulders out. "Well, I'd say I'm up for another round if Amaimon decides to come back." Danny said smugly. But his smile dropped as he realized his sister was staring at his fake eye. Danny put a hand over it, breaking his sister's line of sight. "Don't worry about it. I only really needed one eye anyways."  
  
Danny then walked back to the front of the room. "Alrighty then, since we are missing a few students, am going to talk to you all about demon sociology, for when you have to interact with demon clans that the Order has treaties with. It would be best for everyone if you don't go pissing a bunch of high level demon off because you were too stupid to bring tribute or because you tried to conceal your weapons instead of carrying them in plain sight."  
  
Danny started up a lecture on edict for when dealing with demons. Most of it being summarized as don't be weak, but don't be ungrateful.  
  
Danny was rather glad that the three boys from Kyoto were not there, since he wasn't looking forward to all the stupid questions. The only person in the group of students who was afraid of him, was Shiemi. But fear and worry were coming off of her in waves. Danny could easily sense it with his levels of empathy. Though he would have known even without it, the girl was rigid, biting her lower lip and had eyes that were held wide in panicked nervousness.  
  
Danny simply ignored all this, that was his style of doing things. When there was a problem with people who hated or feared you, you ignore them.  
  
"Though most people believe that demon hierarchies are based on power alone, this is not strictly true for most demon societies. Instead they have what is commonly known as a Lord, or Guardian, who is the leader of that region's demons. This Lord is the eldest social demon in the region, rather than the most powerful." Danny explained. He was fairly well acquainted with demon societies by this point, having had to deal with several of them on several different occasions.  
  
Demon's could easily be divided into two main groups, those that formed social groups, and those that didn't. The one's that didn't being the ones that most often caused problems.  
  
Since each Lord had control over the demons in its area and was responsible for their wellbeing, they tended to set down rules that would limit the amount of damage the demons would do, in order to stop the senseless deaths of their charges. Demon social groups were actually an extremely tight nit family, and if someone tried to arm the children of the group, the Lord would immediately try to defend them.  
  
Danny finished pretty early and since he didn't exactly have any plans he told everyone to just take the time till their next class to relax before he started off into the hall.  
  
Danny didn't notice Yukio watching him as he walked away, an uncomfortable expression in his face. "So are you going to talk to him or not?" Yukio jumped as he turned around to find Shura standing there behind him with a bored expression on her face.  
  
"Wha... what are you talking about?" Yukio stammered, trying to regain his cool.  
  
"Don't try lying to me, Four Eyed Scaredy Cat. You want to thank Caspar after everything that happened, so just do it." Shura said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"I don't know what you are talking about." Yukio said, straightening his glasses and taking a step towards the classroom, but Shura grabbed his arm.  
  
"Don't run away from something like that. Guilt, regret, fear; all these things can cause you to make a mistake. An exorcist can't afford to be feeling them." Shura said seriously before letting go of the boy and walking off past him. "Besides, I'm teaching the next class, remember?"  
  
Yukio watched the woman walking into the room and sighed, he had never been good at admitting his mistakes or saying he was sorry.  
  
Danny had seemed like the embodiment of everything that Yukio feared and hated. He had convinced himself that Danny was going to be an enemy, and that when Rin was reveal, that it would be all Danny's fault. But then Danny throw himself to the wolves in order to protect Rin, and Yukio... he had been a coward, to scared and weak to do anything.  
  
Yukio had no idea how to say thank you. He stood there in the hall, thinking of each and every breakdown he could think of, but nothing seemed to click as a good idea. So in the end he just turned around and walked away. Whatever he was going to say, it could wait for another day.

 

* * *

 

Danny sighed with irritation as he sat down in front of the north bridge, he had given Bai some more fish and was sitting in the shadow of a nearby tree, trying to relax. But the collar around his neck was uncomfortable.  
  
He reached a hand up to scratch underneath it, but he was shocked for his efforts. "Damn thing." Danny growled angrily.  
  
'It looks as if you are now a slave as well.' Bai said as she watched her master's struggle.  
  
"Looks that way." Danny said with a shrug. "Can't say it was unexpected though. Sooner or later I was going to be discovered, and then the Vatican was going to try to use me as their personal weapon or kill me, I've known this for a long time."  
  
'You do not seem too concerned.' Bai said, tilting her head questioningly as she stared with her unblinking snake's eyes at the boy.  
  
"I'm still alive, and the people I care about are still safe. That's all that really matters." Danny said leaning back and looking up at the bit of sunlight that was making its way between the leafs as they shifted about in the hot mid summer winds. "I don't mind sacrificing my freedom for something like that."  
  
Bai was silent for a few moments before she spoke. 'That ring. It holds a blessing of sacred iron from Byakko.' The snake said, surprising Danny. 'He was a Buddhist god of metal, and his Rights are what allow that ring to be bond to you.' She then started to slither away from Danny.  
  
Danny smiled. The familiar had just told him everything he needed to know about the band to be able to negate its effects. Maybe Bai was really starting to warm up to him.  
  
One thing was for certain, this collar was not going to do anyone any good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, I probably won't update for a while so... don't expect much. I still have to re-read all of this and then find an ending. It will most likely be in one or two chapters though. So the ending is coming guys. I just have a lot of other stuff to finish first. Like my halloween fic and my most successful one is in it's last chapter. i haven't updated in forever so I feel kind of bad.....
> 
> UPDATE* So it's finished. I'm thankful to all of those that gave me suggestions and I'm sorry I went in the complete opposite directions.


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yasss bitches guess who is back!
> 
> If there's spelling mistakes, meh, I'll fix 'em later and I am aware of that one fuck up many chapters back where 'offal' is used instead of 'awful' and it's really pissing me off, but I'm coming through the fic now and I WILL FIX ALL OF THE MISTAKES EVENTUALLY OKAY

And by negate it’s effects, he really meant destroy it completely and replace it with a fake.

It took him a couple of weeks to sort everything out, but he eventually found a way to get himself out of it. You see, the ring didn’t  _ actually _ restrict his powers. No, that was Shura or Lightning’s job. They were the ones who would need to activate the seal so that his powers would no longer function. He just couldn’t  _ touch _ the thin metal ring. That was fine. He’d get someone else to do it for him. 

It took a lot of planning to pull off, but he’d managed to find a way to break the ring. Byakko was an Asian god that spanned across multiple pantheons. He was said to take the form of a tiger and was the god of the west. He blessed both people and metal (two things that seemed really unrelated until you thought about it), mostly warriors, but since it was a blessing it was only temporary.

He didn’t really care all that much about what the blessing on the human entailed, but he did do some more research on the metal. The blessing gave the metal the properties of Celestial metal whatever the hell that that means. That really wasn’t important, what  _ was _ important was that the metal still had the same weaknesses that whatever was blessed would have.

Now that collar that he was trapped in was very thin. He almost didn’t notice it until he absent mindedly scratched at his neck and got a shock. But what was also important to remember was that the blessing wasn’t what gave the collar it's shocking tendencies. It was the runes that were carved into the thin metal.

And generally metal could be severely weakened by the cold. Something that the Vatican obviously hadn’t thought of was the fact that I had ice powers. And extreme cold makes things brittle which makes things easier to break. If I was able to get this  _ thin  _ metal cold enough, I would be able to break it. I’d probably have to get Rin or Jazz to do it for me.

Jazz would probably be more willing and better at keeping it a secret, but she’d probably hurt herself with the cold metal. I’d have to make it really cold to be able to have someone ordinary break it. I wouldn’t have to make it as cold if it was Rin, he could probably break it with his strength alone. But there was the danger that it zapped demons.

The cold wouldn’t affect him as much either because he was a demon who has a fire core. He naturally ran hotter, so he had a certain immunity to cold. He also had the super strength that would make these things go a lot easier. 

But Rin hadn’t really been all that good at keeping secrets; it was a wonder that he hadn’t revealed himself yet. Oh wait, that was because Danny had interfered.

But getting it off was only half the problem, he knew that Shura liked him well enough, but she was still loyal to the Vatican. She would report him if it went missing and he couldn’t have them replacing it with something even more annoying than what was already there.

And even if she turned a blind eye, Lightning surely wouldn’t.

So he had to find a way to hide the fact that he was no longer wearing their collar. The solution was rather simple really. He just had to be wearing a collar similar enough that if one didn’t stare at it for too long, and didn’t know what all of the runes were, they wouldn’t notice the difference, and he’d be free to do as he pleases. 

He took as many pictures of the collar as he could before getting into contact with Sam and Tucker back in Amity. 

 

* * *

  
Since natural portals were incredibly rare and unstable, ghosts generally stayed clear of them. And ever since the Fentons had been publicly arrested and shut down with their ghost portal destroyed (Vlad followed suit after losing the custody battle) there were no ghosts in Amity.

This helped ease  lot of Danny’s worries, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been seriously pissed off when he’d been informed by CPS that he would be leaving the country. The deal his parents had apparently made seemed pretty dubious to him, but CPS seemed fine with it. 

2 less kids to shove into the foster system, right?

His friends had been even less thrilled to find out that he would have to go to Japan of all places. It was rather absurd. They agreed that it was a good thing that the elder Fentons were out of their lives - probably for good too - but him going to Japan still seemed so extreme. They’d been together for so long it seemed so odd to even think about one of them leaving.

They’d been planning on going to the same university together before finally moving in together. Sam and Tucker had started dating only 2 months before, so Danny wasn’t quite feeling the third wheel yet. But he was beginning to notice it. 

Fortunately, Mephisto must have been having a stroke of humanity because he allowed Danny to spend a final day with his friends before he shipped him off to Japan. That was the day that he told them and he still remembers their reactions.

_ “Are you kidding me? We go out for one date,  _ one _! And you manage to get into this situation!” Sam was ranting as Tucker greedily dug into his burger, letting Sam take the lead in the whole scolding thing. “You’re parents get arrested by some international exorcist organization and they burn down your house?” she nearly screamed.  _

_ “Don’t forget that I have to move to Japan so that I can learn to be an exorcist or I will be executed because I’m not actually half ghost, I’m half demon!” he added on. Sam glared at him for being cheeky. _

_ “That’s makes it worse you idiot!” she shrieked. Tucker hurriedly shushed her because they were in public, but that really wasn’t the point. He was just as displeased with the turn of events as his girlfriend was. But at least he seemed to understand that Danny didn't really get a choice.  _

_ “Sam, it's his last day and we don't know if he's going to be able to keep up communication with us all that much. Can we just enjoy it?” Tucker asked in a placating manner while he fiddled with his PDA. Sam sighed heavily but conceded.  _

_ “Fine, but only for Danny.” She grumbled. “There better be veggie burgers…” and with that comment they dissolved into the age old argument about whether being an ultra-recyclo vegetarian was a good thing or not.  _

Danny couldn't help but smile fondly as he remembered the antics of his friends. Only them. God he missed how things used to be. 

 

* * *

 

So he managed to get into contact with Sam again and asked her for a favour. Well her and Tucker. Tucker had the technical experience necessary to be able to be able to make the collar, but Sam was the one who’d have to make sure that it was as close as possible without using the actual binding runes.

It would be a pain to have to break another one if they found out.

He needed another collar and he wasn’t able to make it himself. Sam was only too happy to help after she received a photo of Danny in uniform (she claimed it was for Blackmail, but Tucker could agree on a purely aesthetic level, that Danny was hot in a uniform) and had gone on for days about how he was finally embracing his punk side.

She’d always said that he’d look hot if he went a little edgier with his style.

What the duo was  _ not _ pleased to hear was his list on injuries and the reason  _ why _ he needed this fake collar. “We let you out of our sight for a couple months and look where you are now!” Sam had scolded much to Danny’s embarrassment. He had to admit that most of the trouble that he did get into was because he didn’t have people he could trust at his back.

Sure Jazz was capable, but she was no Sam or Tucker. He was always thinking about protecting her and fighting second. But with Sam and Tucker, he knew that they were fine on their own. Sure he worried about their safety, but not as much as he would anyone else. 

They’d been fighting ghosts with him for years, Jazz had only really stepped up the year before. She wasn’t experienced enough to hunt on their own. His need to protect people was getting in the way of himself protecting himself. 

Sam and Tucker weren’t happy with that, but they definitely agreed that the collar needed to go. And they had his replacement ready and in his hands within a week. And so he needed to come to a decision about who he’d go to to help him with his collar.

Ultimately he ended up choosing Rin, because he couldn’t make himself go to his older sister. He knows it’s childish, but Jazz had to deal with a lot from him growing up, and she deserved to not have to worry about him. He’d asked enough of her.

So with that in mind, he carefully chose a night where he knew that Yukio would be off on a mission to ask Rin for his help. He had no idea where Shura was, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. This was getting  _ very  _ annoying very fast and he  _ wanted it off _ .

So while Rin was cooking dinner for the two of them (Jazz was having a girls night? He didn’t really ask), he decided now or never. “Hey Rin, do you mind helping me with something?” It was vague enough that if Rin said no he’d be none the wiser. 

Rin didn’t even stop what he was doing while he answered. “Of course! I figure I owe you for protecting my secret and getting thrown under the bus for it.” This works in Danny’s favour very well. Rin seemed eager to be able to help him, and this wasn’t really that hard of a task. And Danny was sure that he would have agreed to help him even if he didn’t technically owe Danny.

“Well you know about this collar? I’ve figured out a way to detach it, I just need you to pull it off for me, because i can’t touch it. I don’t know if it’s just keyed into my specific signature or all demons, so there’s a chance it could shock you as well.” he warned. Rin stopped chopping the vegetables for the homemade ramen and turned to look at Danny.

“But won’t the Vatican find out? Don't they have some homing beacon or something?” Rin asked. Danny shook his head. 

“Nah. I checked over the design and it's pretty simple. Neither Lightning nor Shura have the technical knowledge to know how it works so pulling to wool over their eyes will be pretty easy as long as they don't look too close. Shura likes me well enough so she’ll most likely be the one to watch over me. It’ll be fine.” 

Rin seemed reassured by this response as he finished up his preparations for dinner and washed his hands. “Ok so what do I do?” He asked, eagerly taking a seat next to Danny. 

He smiled softly at the sight of the teen in front of him. This will probably work a lot better than he’d hoped. “Ok. So I’m going to drop my temperature as much as possible while focusing my powers on the collar so that it becomes brittle. When I tell you to, I’m going to need you to focus on pulling your internal fire back into your body so that you can touch the metal without raising its temperature.” He began to explain as he started working on using his powers. 

“Then all you need to do is grab it and pull until it breaks. Piece of cake.”

Rin looked skeptical, but he nodded in agreement anyways.

It took a couple minutes to get the metal cold enough, but soon Danny deemed it ready. Rin looked nervous, but he reached forward anyway and began to pull on the collar. If Danny had not been given the gift of demonic strength, then he was sure that he would have gone flying with the amount of strength that Rin put behind his pull. 

As it was, Rin went flying when the ring broke easily. He dropped the chilled metal and yelled in triumph as he threw himself at Danny. Danny hugged him back internally complaining about Rin’s demon strength. After a moment of celebration, Danny put on the new ring and cleaned up the old one, planning on sending it to Sam and Tucker for research.

Then it was back to business and Danny was helping Rin with his control over his powers like any other night. 

 

* * *

 

Mephisto grinned as he watched Danny and Rin celebrate with the successful removal of the collar. He was impressed by Danny’s ingenuity, but the problem still remains that both Lucifer  _ and _ Satan were going to rise. He frowned as he began to plan what to do next. He still didn’t know if Rin  _ or _ Danny were ready for that. That remained to be determined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I no longer require suggestions. I have an ending plan. And it will be within the next 10 chapters cuz this is a pretty long fic already and I have other things to focus on. Just like all my other long term fics, I will do my best to update monthly.


	45. Chapter 45

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not much of a chapter, but it's still something

Nothing of note happened for the next three months, and Danny didn’t know whether he should be disappointed by that or not. On the bright side, no one suspected that his collar was a fake, but there was no action that he’d grown accustomed to. Back when he’d been attending Amity, he’d gotten rather used to the constant attacks, and then it was demons and exorcists.

But no the most action that happened was when Bon attempted to challenge Rin to a fight like an idiot. Rin would usually not rise to the bait, now a bit more paranoid about people finding out about his secret after seeing how they treated Danny. But he still occasionally fought with Bon. Usually when Bon said something that went a little too far and Rin wanted to make him pay.

He was working on controlling that anger with Rin - as another way of training his control, after all, if he couldn’t control his emotions how on earth was he supposed to control his  _ emotion triggered _ powers? - but it wasn’t going as well as he’d like.

You see, the comments that set Rin off the most were actually about Danny. The exwires opinions of him as both a person (although Bon argued vehemently that demons weren’t people and didn’t deserve to be considered as such) and as a teacher. They thought him incredibly incompetent in his knowledge on demons and openly opposed him at every turn. 

Which was utterly ridiculous considering he  _ was _ a demon.

But no matter how little fucks Danny gave, any insult to Danny set Rin off without fault every single time. It was like clockwork really. Hah, great pun Danny. But every day Rin would enter the classroom and Danny would begin his lesson only to have Bon make snide comments under his breath the entire time.

As soon as he’d finish and leave the room, Bon would say something stupid and racist against Danny and literally everything he said and stood for. That kid was angry on so many levels and the best part was he wasn’t even the son of Satan. He’d hate to think about how Bon and the other two would react if Rin had been exposed instead.

If they were this vicious with someone who outranked them in both position and skill, than he really doesn’t want to think about how they’d treat Rin if they knew.

As it was they really didn’t treat him all that well. Bon and Rin had never gotten along all that well when they’d first met, and going through these experiences with demons together has done nothing to help that relationship.

Then there was the training camp fiasco, that was a fun evening. After that incident, Rin and Bon’s relationship became even more volatile. Rin defended Danny with all that he had, regularly getting into shouting matches with just about everyone. It was almost comical how against everyone Rin was.

Although Danny appreciated the fact that Rin hadn’t abandoned him at the drop of a hat,he half wished that Rin wouldn’t push everyone away. It would have been better if he had tried to get along with the others of his age group. He needed friends desperately, and he really couldn’t afford for his classmates to hate him.

He had been a lonely kid, and even though he insisted that he was fine with just Danny and Jazz as his only companions, Danny knew that Rin secretly longed for more friends. He’d never had the chance to get close to the other students before the fallout and he was forced to pick a side. Unfortunately he chose Danny.

Maybe if he had chosen the others, they would be more inclined to  _ not _ betray him when it was inevitably revealed that he was also half demon. They hadn’t had the chance to try to understand Danny before he had been promoted and was therefore out of their reach. Then that distance nurtured a pretty strong hatred once it was revealed that he was the same species as their enemies.

But if they were friends with Rin, and got to know him for who he was before what he was, they might be more reluctant to immediately leave him. Maybe they could trust him. But that ship has long since sailed, and Danny fears that maybe Rin has alienated them for good, what with the way he’s been defending him.

It practically screamed that he was the same. Surely the exwires would look back on these moments when his heritage was revealed and think that his efforts were all for self gain. But Rin wasn’t like that. He was a kind hearted boy who’d been dealt some of the shittier cards in life.

But other than Rin and Bon’s little spats, nothing really happened. Danny taught his classes and was disrespected. The kids learned enough to begin completing more missions and nothing too disastrous happened. Yukio still hadn’t warmed up to him, but he highly doubted that that would ever happen. Yukio had some internalized demon-phobia that messed up his perception of everything and thoroughly messed up his relationship with his brother.

But that wasn’t Danny’s problem.

But what troubled Danny about those 3 months of radio silence was the fact that  _ nothing was happening. _ Now he liked action as much as the next guy (thinking this while next to Rin probably wasn’t such a great idea), but the fact that  _ nothing _ was happening was a pretty good reason to worry.

The Vatican hadn’t interfered with their class or the school since Danny’s trial and that alone was reason to worry. Although his brain - and Shura - could provide plausible reasons as to why the Vatican hadn’t given a single peep since then, he was still uneasy. Something just didn’t feel right. He gets that they were just some kids who were trying to play exorcist, but they deserved to know what they would be up against.

A war was coming. And like it or not, they were going to be in the very center of it. They would need to be prepared.

What gave him an even worse feeling was the fact that not only was the Vatican maintaining radio silence, but so was the enemy. They hadn’t heard or even seen anything from any light demons or about Satan’s rise. In fact the only demons that had been reported anywhere were all low level rot demons.

It made him very worried to think about what they might be doing. Were they going to launch an attack on them unannounced? Would they even be ready for such a surprise attack? The answer to the second question was of course a no.

The answer to the first question, remained unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see y'all in like 3 weeks


	46. Chapter 46

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the end, friends! It's finally over!

Of course that was the moment that the universe decided to say fuck it and throw the towel in. No attacks what so ever within the entire next month. None. Zip. Zilch. It was ridiculous even. Danny couldn't be anymore on edge, and everyone could see it. The attack was coming, he was sure of it. It had to be coming.

But the universe decided to be a dick and forced them to all wait in suspense. It was both a blessing and a curse if Danny was going to be honest with himself. It was a blessing because they weren't constantly fighting for their lives and now they had time to train and focus on their studies. But it was also a curse, because they have no idea when an attack will ever be launched.

No knowledge on what day could be their last. And well... that's sort of how life is. However, it still made Danny nervous and antsy. It was making the others nervous and antsy too. It didn't help that Shura and the others still were worried around him and believed that the collar was actually still working. He couldn't use an of his powers without tipping people off.

It was frustrating, because all he could do to prepare for an upcoming attack would be to train the new batch of exorcists and try to prepare them for everything as much as possible. It really didn't help that they were all really not into it. Well save Rin.

In the week leading up to the attack they’d been training everyone pretty intensely - mostly at Danny’s insistence. And it was a good thing too. Rin still didn’t have a great control over his flames, but he was much better at actually using them as a weapon, and he could now decently fight with a sword. It wasn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things, but right now it was all they had.

But Bon and Konekomaru had become way more adept with their chanting and both Izumo and Shiemi were well in control of their summons. Danny had pulled all the stops and gotten as much information on the light demons as possible to make sure that they at least stood a chance.

Even though they all knew it was pretty pointless anyway. How on earth were they supposed to stand a chance against both Lucifer _and_ Satan?

The fact that they were going to try was just dumb.

But he was Danny Phantom and he wasn't going down without a fight. No sir, that wasn't how he worked. If he was going to go down, then he was going to take as many of those assholes with him as possible. But there was only so much that one half-demon (who didn't even have access to his powers) could do.

 

* * *

 

 

They hadn’t been expecting it, especially with the silence from Mephisto and the other exorcists. But surely enough, one day _in the middle of his freaking lecture_ there was suddenly an onslaught of demons. Well, Danny had been expecting an attack for a while now, so of course he was prepared. He jumped up on the desk and began attacking the demons because what else can you do in this situation?

The world's gone to shit and he had to do something.

Rin quickly followed his example and _without drawing his sword_ he began to simply bash the little fuckers’ heads in. Not the cleanest way, but Rin had been getting frustrated a lot more lately, so it was therapeutic. Danny approved; he’d treated ghost hunting in a very similar way back when he was at Amity High.

“Well don’t just sit there! It’s time for a practical class! No holy water grenades but everything else is on the table! Feel free to help us now!” Danny yelled as he took out 5 more demons. “If any of you were listening to my  lectures at all, you’d know that these are light demons! So they’re a bit stronger than your typical rot demon. Bon, Konekomaru, Izumo! Their fatal verses are in Leviticus!” he lectured while fighting.

Hmmm, he’d never thought he’d acquire _that_ specific talent. Sam would be proud.

The exwires jumped into action, eager to prove that they could actually fight and weren’t the useless brats that Danny made it clear he thought they were. Rin, Shima, and Danny were playing the heavy hitters and destroying all the larger demons as well as protecting the Arias in the room.

Izumo and Shiemi summoned their respective summons and they began to wreak havoc on the nearest light demons. Danny even summoned Cujo and he was able to stem the flow of demons. Bon and Konekomaru were frantically chanting everything they remembered from Leviticus.

They’d gotten lucky, so far it was only low level demons, but that didn’t really mean all that much in the grand scheme of things. The numbers were staggering. It was enough to cause anyone trouble. But Danny was pretty proud of the fact that they were able to hold their own for this long. As it was, if someone didn’t interfere soon, he’d need to use his powers and reveal that the collar that he wore was not in fact the real one.

It could be disastrous, but it could also save their butts. He was just about to say ‘fuck it’ and unleash a wave of ice to at least slow down the onslaught - the classroom was being destroyed; they’d need to move if they wanted more mobility - when the door crashed open to reveal Yukio and Shura.

“Oi! This way!” Shura yelled as she bolted down the hallway, Yukio providing cover for all of them with his dual guns. Danny was the last out of the room, and they all made their way to the roof where they had a better vantage point. Sure there was less cover, but they would be able to get rid of the demons faster.

Luckily there wasn’t that many demons left, but they were the bigger and stronger ones of the attack. Things were going to greatest, and it’d come down to Danny and SHura each taking one, while Rin and Yukio tag teamed another. The rest of the exwire class was handling the last one together. Things were going pretty well and they were about to finish up when there was suddenly a loud shriek.

“Bon! Watch out!” It was high pitched voice that Danny had come to recognize. Shiemi. He turned away from his fight for a split second, and in that time he was able to see that the exwires hd lost control of their demon, and it was lunging towards Bon’s back. Danny’s eyes flashed, he unleashed  bit of his power and utterly destroyed his demon in a single blow while he rushed towards Bon’s turned back.

No one else was close enough to be able to do anything, either that or they couldn’t afford to leave their own demon unattended. The only reason that Danny had been taking so long with killing this one demon was because he was handicapping himself by not using his powers. But now he had no choice.

There was no way that he was going to let any of these teens get hurt. They may hate him, but they were still under his protection. Maybe he didn’t care about what happened to them as much as he cared about what happened to Rin, but he would still protect them. Rin would be the last to admit it, but he’d grown attached to these teens.

Despite the infighting, these were still the first friends that Rin ever had, and Danny would do his best to make sure that Rin kept smiling.

So he rushed forward at speeds that he’d forgotten he could even reach while in his human form and was in between Bon and the demon just ass the demon reached him. The demon, who’d had its jaws wide open in an attempt to bite Bon, sunk it’s rather impressive fangs into Danny’s shoulder instead.

He let out a scream of pain as the demon nearly bit his arm off. Of course that was the time that Shura had killed her own demon and rushed for ward to help. In no time she was able to kill the demon and release Danny from its jaws.

He slumped down on the ground, not really registering who was the one to catch him and ease him to the floor. All he could concentrate on was the fact his shoulder was killing him and he could feel himself beginning to bleed out. The sounds of fighting stopped a couple seconds later, and he could feel people rush towards him.

There was a light tap on his cheek and he opened his eyes - since when were they closed? - to see Shura looking down at him worriedly. “Hey kid, stay awake okay?” she said as she began to pull out bandages from nowhere and did a quick field dressing.

It wasn’t the greatest, but it would stop him from bleeding out before they could get proper help. And that wasn’t all that likely either considering his demonic status. Danny pushed a bit of his powers to the wounds and sealed them up with some ice for good measure. It was ghost ice so it wasn’t like it would melt, and he couldn’t afford to bleed out.

That was most likely just the first wave, there was almost guaranteed to be more coming soon. And this time it would be worse. The pain of the cold suddenly touching the ragged edges of the wound brought him back to the present and woke him up a bit more. He began to sit up, being careful to mind his shoulder, lest he damage it further.

He turned around to see that the one who had caught him (and then held him while Shura dressed his wounds) was none other than Bon. He frowned in confusion as Bon offered him a hand to help him up. He cautiously accepted the hand as Bon began to talk. “Listen, I know this is a really shitty time for me to be doing this… but I realize I’ve been a bit of an asshole.”

Danny raised an eyebrow, “a _bit_ of an asshole?” he scoffed under his breath. Bon glared at him.

“Yeah, I get it okay! I was a dick and judged you for something you couldn’t control and I really had no reason to. I’m sorry okay! The others had nothing to do with it. I convinced them to treat you like shit because I was angry and felt betrayed. You aren’t Satan even if you have the powers of a demon king.” he grumbled, looking anywhere but Danny’s eyes. “And… thanks for saving my life, or whatever.”

“For the record, the principal is also a demon king but…” clearly this answer was not a good one considering the unimpressed look _everyone_ was shooting him at this point. “I accept your apology.” he smirked suddenly, ignoring the intense throbbing in his shoulder in favour of mocking his student. “And you’re very welcome for saving your life” he continued cheekily.

Bon snorted and went to join the others in licking their wounds (not literally friends), but it held considerably less hostility. Shura chose that moment to grab his uninjured shoulder to draw his attention towards her.

“Listen up brat,” she began in a low tone, “I’m going to overlook the fact that that collar did nothing when you used your powers because you protected Bon. In fact, I’m gonna ignore you using y’ur powers completely because it’s gonna become a warzone soon and we’ll need all the advantages we can get.”

Danny nodded in agreement, before gesturing for her to go and help patch up the others. Now was a really bad time for any sort of conversation. They needed to survive first. Otta live another day right? And now _was_ a really bad time, because it was only a small reprieve, although Danny was grateful that they made up. Sorta.

At least now they wouldn’t be working against him in the upcoming battle. And of course because Danny’s life is kinda shitty, right after that was when stuff started to go down. No sooner had they finished bandaging each other up did they see something in the distance.

By now there were exorcist on the school grounds and they were preparing to fight low level demons, but they wouldn’t be much help for the bright figure that was zooming towards them followed by multiple mid to high level light demons. Oh great. Of course _he_ had to come now. Of all time.

Danny was getting real tired of this shit.

The other exorcists below in the courtyard were immediately overrun by mid level demons; they would be no help. But the high level demons (luckily not that many) along with the glowing white figure were heading straight towards the roof. Konekomaru paled considerably at the sight of such a strong demon.

This wasn’t like the time with Beelzebub. This was much worse. They were no longer able to stay on the outskirts and watch as two demon kings were forced to face off, now they had to watch their backs and try their best to stay alive. That was a terrifying thought to them.

While the high level demons attacked the exwires, Shura, and Yukio, Danny was left to fight the glowing figure. Eventually the light faded and there was simply a man standing in front of him. He reminded Danny very much like Lightning, if only because of the stance he held.

He was uncaring and condescending as he stared in disappointment at the teenage Halfa. He was tall and wearing a pale green military uniform. He had bright blond hair that came to a rather weird point at the top of his head, and he had surprisingly bright and sharp eyes. Morning star indeed. The name did do him justice.

He stared unimpressed at the demons and humans fighting around them, before he produced a sword out of thin air. It was a pure white steel, and if Danny wasn’t too busy preparing himself to try not to die, he’d be admiring the craftsmanship.

“It’s nothing personal,” began Lucifer in a bored tone. “Father simply needs you gone before he can take control. It would be foolish to try and fight me child. You don’t possess the power, and you’re already injured. Surrender, and I’ll make your ending your pathetic existence fast.” he drawled.

Danny glared. These were the fruit loops that he hated the most. The self-righteous pricks who thought that everyone was heavily beneath them. He ground his teeth together and stood his ground, taking out his own weapon. “Not a chance! If I’m gonna die, then I’m going to die fighting, you damned fruit loop!” he yelled in defiance.

Lucifer raised an eyebrow at him with emotionless eyes. “Pity, I hate to get my hands dirty.” He took a step forward, “prepare yourself halfling. You’ll need all the help you can get to even stand a chance at lasting more than 2 minutes.”

Danny glared before yelling proudly “I’m going ghost!”

 

* * *

 

Danny hadn’t had much hope when he went to fight Lucifer, but so far he was getting his ass handed to him. Lucifer had to be one of the most challenging and frustrating to fight. While Beelzebub had been annoying and arrogant, he was easy enough to read. All the ghosts from Amity had been so easy to read, and he wasn’t quite used to fighting someone with such a lack of emotions and a drive in general.

Lucifer’s face was blank and he hadn’t sustained any injuries as of yet. Meanwhile, Danny was struggling to block most of Lucifer’s attacks. And while the demon king’s attacks were vicious and without mercy, there was also no passion behind it. He couldn’t help but compare this fight to when he fought Beelzebub. Beelzebub had wanted to hurt him, to make him pay. But Lucifer was uncaring, completely apathetic to the entire situation.

He curse his fake eye, it created a blind spot that he hadn’t been able to compensate for quite yet and he was paying heavily for it. He was definitely worse off than when the fight began, and Lucifer looked like he hadn’t even been scratched. It was infuriating. His left side had sustained a considerable amount of injuries, and it didn’t help that his left shoulder was already a problem due to the massive bite that the other demon had done.

The demon king of light had immediately seized upon the weakness that both Danny’s fake eye and the wound provided and it was proving to be nearly fatal for Danny. He was just barely surviving, it reminded him greatly of when he was fighting Pariah Dark. Only this time was far worse.

Lucifer was obviously stronger, and it was no surprise either. Lucifer was older than the demon king of spirits had been, and that was a terrifying thought. So far the Satan’s right hand man had just been playing with him, but Danny hadn’t had to resort to his demon heart yet, so they could still win this.

At the very least they could put up a fight and go down trying to protect their home.

But then things took a turn for the worst when suddenly a figure crashed into the roof near where the exwires were fighting. Danny couldn’t really afford to pay all that much attention to what was happening as he was fighting to even stay alive at this point, but he was able to watch what was happening out of the corner of his eye.

A bloody and heavily beaten up figure lay on the concrete for a moment before slowly getting up like a zombie from the stupid horror movies that Rin loved to watch even though they terrified him to pieces. He staggered upwards, revealing the fact that it was none other than Lightning, the pretentious exorcist that had seemed to have it out for Danny.

From the way that he was standing you could see that his limbs were twisted in weird ways - clearly broken. He didn’t look any better than Danny felt, but the question still remained; how was he even standing? Let alone how he got on the roof in such a flashy manner in the first place.

Shura and Yukio had noticed that he was there by now, and Shura was the one to yell at the exorcist. “Oi! What took ya so long ya slacker!” she yelled loudly as she slashed at a couple demons. Lightning didn’t respond and that worried everyone who was actually able to multi task while fighting.

This was really odd, and it worried Danny. But that was the moment when Lightning actually looked up - well that might not be the best way to say it. It was more like he threw his head back and began to cackle. Danny could barely see it, but Rin faltered heavily in his fighting at the sound of that laugh.

It was something that Rin had heard before. It was a laugh that had haunted him for the longest time - still _did_ haunt him in fact. It was the way that Father Fujimoto had laughed right after he’d been possessed by Satan. Rin was the only one who wasn’t fighting at the moment (he’d cut down the demons that had been attacking him) so he was the only one who was able to see what happened next clearly.

The exorcist looked him directly in the eye and then he smiled. If that wasn’t unsettling enough, then his nose began to drip blood and his eyes followed suit. It was a very gruesome image, and one that Rin had seen before.

 **_“It’s been a while Rin,”_ ** he said,but it came out more like a sinister hiss. All those who had any idea what happened to Rin and just about anything that had to do with Father Fujimoto’s death paled at the voice. Then the possessed man burst into bright blue flames and everyone noticed _that_.

Danny was the one who was the most worried besides Yukio. Shura was caught up in protecting the other exwires and she wouldn’t stand a chance against the king of Gehenna himself. Yukio stood even less of a chance of being able to survive a fight with the demon king because of his lack of skills and experience as an exorcist as well as his lack of possession of Satan’s flames.

Only a demon would be able to stand a chance at getting out of this fight alive.

Rin hadn’t been revealed yet, and if he wanted to live he’d need to use his flames. And Danny was just trying to stay alive against Lucifer. What could he do?

 **_“Rin~... come and fight me. This vessel is pretty strong, he’ll last long enough for me to possess you… and then I’ll kill all of your little friends… ha ha hA HA HA HA!”_ ** Satan cackled menacingly, very reminiscent of that comic book clown serial killer that was incredibly popular in America.

Of course Lucifer chose that exact moment to lock their weapons together so Danny had to focus a great amount of his attention on not letting Lucifer force him to cut himself. As it was, he was forced onto his back, desperately trying to keep Lucifer’s sword from his neck. “Rin!” he yelled desperately over the dull roar that was fighting.

“You don’t have to do this! We can find another way!” he continued. Deep down he knew that there wouldn’t be a way for them to win this that didn’t end with death. Blood drenched the left side of his face, and his strength was failing. He couldn’t shake Lucifer off of him, there was no way he’d be able to fight Satan so that Rin wouldn’t have to.

Rin turned to look at his desperate face as he struggled to survive and smiled softly. Then he moved and pulled out his katana. By now Yukio had noticed that Rin was going to take on Satan and was flipping his shit as he shot down demon after demon, desperately trying to get close to Rin. “RIN!” he screamed in terror. If Rin did this, there was no going back. But there was a very small chance that that they would make it out alive anyway.

Would it even matter?

By now everyone’s eyes were on Rin and what he was going to do. Rin smiled brightly at everyone over his shoulder, although it didn’t reach his eyes. Tears were dripping silently down his face as he uttered two words that should have been too quiet to hear, but somehow echoed across the roof.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Then he unsheathed his katana, and the roof was bathed in blue flames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is shit. I get that the past few chapters have been trash but here is the end even if it is a rather stupid ending. I can’t really do this story that much justice so this is the long awaited ending that you think you want but when you get it you’re very disappointed. And no, there will not be a sequel unfortunately. I didn't really know how to end it, and then I thought about this really unsatisfying ending and this is what i decided on.


End file.
